Edgars Rinkēvičs
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Edgars Rinkēvičs | |
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| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| Assumed office 25 October 2011 | |
| Prime Minister | Valdis Dombrovskis Laimdota Straujuma Māris Kučinskis Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš |
| Preceded by | Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 September 1973 Jūrmala, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union (now Latvia) |
| Political party | Latvian Way (Before 2004) Reform Party (2012–2014) Unity (2014–present)[1] |
| Alma mater | University of Latvia University of Groningen |
Edgars Rinkēvičs (born 21 September 1973) is a Latvian politician and official, current Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia. He is a member of Unity.
Early life and education
Rinkēvičs was educated at high school in Jūrmala, before completing a bachelor's degree at the University of Latvia in History and Philosophy (1995). He then received a master's degree in political science in 1997, followed by another master's degree at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Career
In 1993, Rinkēvičs started work as a journalist reporting on foreign policy and international relations at Latvian Radio. In 1995 he took up a post at the Ministry of Defence, becoming the Director of his internal department the following year. In May 1997 he became Deputy State Secretary for Defence Policy, and then subsequently the Secretary of State.[1]
Between 1998 and 2004, Rinkēvičs was a member of the "Latvian Way" political party. In February 1998, he became involved with discussion on the US-Baltic Partnership Charter; and from 2002 to 2003 was a member of the Latvian delegation negotiating accession to NATO (Deputy Head of Delegation). By 2011, he was appointed as Head of Chancery to the President of Latvia. In October of the same year, Rinkēvičs joined Valdis Dombrovskis' government as Minister for Foreign Affairs. In January 2012, his party formally entered into a governing alliance with the Zatlers' Reform Party. In 2014 he stood in parliamentary elections, and was elected to parliament; again serving as Foreign Minister in Laimdota Straujuma's second government.[1]
On November 6, 2014, he publicly announced on his Twitter profile that he is gay.[2][3] This made him the first lawmaker in Latvia to announce he is gay, as well as the most prominent openly gay politician in a former Soviet Bloc state at the time.[4]
He was confirmed as minister of foreign affairs in the cabinets of Māris Kučinskis (2016–19) and Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš (since 2019).
See also
References
- ^ a b c Kroet, Cynthia (18 December 2014). "Edgars Rinkēvičs: Latvia's foreign minister". Politico. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
- ^ "Foreign Minister 'Proud to be gay'". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
- ^ "Latvia's foreign minister comes out as gay". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 2014-11-07. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
- ^ Potts, Andrew (7 November 2014). "Latvia's Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics has come out as gay on Twitter". Gay Star News. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
External links
- "Edgars Rinkēvičs". Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- "Edgars Rinkēvičs". Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia. 2014-08-21.
- Edgars Rinkēvičs on Twitter
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- 1973 births
- Living people
- People from Jūrmala
- Latvian Way politicians
- Reform Party (Latvia) politicians
- New Unity politicians
- Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Latvia
- Deputies of the 12th Saeima
- Deputies of the 13th Saeima
- Gay politicians
- Gay diplomats
- LGBT politicians from Latvia
- Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
- Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd Class
- Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class
- Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class
- Latvian politician stubs