NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF LATVIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA

Janis Karklins, the new Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Michael Møller, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Karklins had been serving as Director of the NATO StratCom Centre of Excellence since 2014. He was Assistant Director General of the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, France from 2010 to 2013. He served as Latvia’s Ambassador to France and UNESCO in Paris from 2007 to 2010. He was also the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations Office at Geneva from 2000 to 2007.

A career diplomat, Mr. Karklins served as Under-Secretary of State for Legal and Administrative Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia from 1998 to 2000. He served at the Latvian Embassy in France as Counsellor from 1995 to 1998; and at the Latvian Embassy in Finland as Counsellor from 1993 to 1995. He was Under-Secretary of State for Administrative Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia from 1992 to 1993. He also served as Chief of Administration at the Department of Foreign Economic Relations of the Council of Ministers of Latvia from 1990 to 1991.

Mr. Karklins has a post-graduate degree in radio engineering and technology of production from Riga Polytechnic Institute in Riga, Latvia (1985). He also attended the Executive Programme for Young Diplomats from Eastern Europe at the Hoover Institution in Stanford University, California, United States in 1992. He was born on 25 December 1962 in Riga.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CR15/023E