Miroslav Lajčák
Miroslav Lajčák | |
---|---|
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Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
Assumed office 4 April 2012 | |
Prime Minister | Robert Fico |
Preceded by | Mikuláš Dzurinda |
In office 26 January 2009 – 8 July 2010 | |
Prime Minister | Robert Fico |
Preceded by | Ján Kubiš |
Succeeded by | Mikuláš Dzurinda |
High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
In office 30 June 2007 – 26 March 2009 | |
Preceded by | Christian Schwarz-Schilling |
Succeeded by | Valentin Inzko |
Personal details | |
Born | Poprad, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) | 20 March 1963
Political party | Communist Party (Before 1992) Direction-Social Democracy (1994–present) |
Spouse | Jarmila Hargašová |
Alma mater | Comenius University Moscow State Institute of International Relations |
Miroslav Lajčák (born 20 March 1963) is a Slovak diplomat and currently the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia. He is also serving as Deputy Prime Minister.
Early life and education
Lajčák is a law graduate from the Comenius University in Bratislava. He holds a Ph.D. in international relations from the State Institute of International Relations in Moscow and is also a graduate of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.[1]
Political career
Diplomatic career
Until the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia he was a member of Communist Party. He joined the Czechoslovak foreign ministry in 1988. Between 1991 and 1993 Lajčák was posted to the Czechoslovak and subsequently the Slovak embassy in Moscow. He was Slovakia’s ambassador to Japan between 1994 and 1998. Between 1993 and 1994 he served as the chef de cabinet of Slovakia’s then Foreign Minister and later Prime Minister, Jozef Moravčík. Between 2001 and 2005, Lajčák was based in Belgrade as Slovakia’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro), Albania and the Republic of Macedonia. He was the EU's supervisor to the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum.[2]
On 30 June 2007 Lajčák became the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina/EU Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina succeeding Christian Schwarz-Schilling to the post.[3] He kept this post until March 2009.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
On 26 January 2009 Lajčák became the Foreign Minister of Slovakia in the Fico's First Cabinet,[4] until July 2010.
In December 2010 he was appointed as Managing Director for Russia, Eastern Neighbourhood and the Western Balkans in the EU's External Action Service.[5] He served until April 2012.
In April 2012 he was named, as an independent, the Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the Fico's Second Cabinet.[6] Lajčák has been mentioned as a possible candidate to seek the post of new United Nations secretary-general after the term of Ban Ki-moon, from South Korea, expires.[7]
Personal life
He is fluent in English, German, Russian, Bulgarian, as well as Bosnian.[1] Lajčák is divorced and remarried. His second wife is Jarmila Lajčáková-Hargašová, a TV news presenter.
On 16 December 2007 he received the Person of the Year award from one of the largest Bosnian dailies "Nezavisne novine".[8] Two weeks later, on 28 December, he was awarded the same title by another Bosnian daily "Dnevni Avaz".[9]
References
- ^ a b http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/infoBios/setimes/resource_centre/bio-archive/lajcak_miroslav
- ^ EU wins Montenegro's support for its referendum formula, published on 2006/02/27.
- ^ http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/de/Laenderinformationen/Slowakei/090310-AntrittsbesuchAM,navCtx=31296.html
- ^ http://www.consilium.europa.eu/showPage.aspx?id=1293&lang=en
- ^ http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/679&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
- ^ Slovak Foreign Policy After the 2012 Elections: What To Expect, published on 2012/05/09.
- ^ "Slovak Foreign Minister Eyes UN Sec Gen Post".
- ^ "Lajčák is person of the year in Bosnia" (in Slovak). SME. December 16, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
Article in Nezavisne novine: [1]
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: External link in
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- ^ "Lajčák person of the year again" (in Slovak). SME. December 29, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Official curriculum vitae of Lajčák (as of 2012)
- 1963 births
- Ambassadors of Slovakia to Albania
- Ambassadors of Slovakia to Japan
- Ambassadors of Slovakia to Serbia and Montenegro
- Ambassadors of Slovakia to the Republic of Macedonia
- Comenius University alumni
- European Union diplomats
- Government ministers of Slovakia
- High Representatives for Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Living people
- Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni
- People from Poprad
- Slovak diplomats