Māris Riekstiņš

Ambassador-at-Large, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia

Māris Riekstiņš began his career in the Foreign Ministry of Latvia in 1992 when he took on the position of the Director of the Western Europe Division. In 1993, he became the Under-secretary of State and eventually the State Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. He remained in that position until his posting as the Ambassador of Latvia to the United States in 2004, and non-resident Ambassador to Mexico in 2006. For most of 2007 Mr. Riekstiņš was Chief of Staff to the former Prime Minister of Latvia Mr. Aigars Kalvitis. In November 2007 Mr. Riekstiņš was elected to the post of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and held this position until April 2010. Since then he has been nominated Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is actively involved in coordination of foreign affairs of the political alliance “For A Good Latvia!”

In his career Mr. Riekstiņš has also been Head of the Latvian delegation for accession into NATO, Chairman of the advisory council for Latvia’s membership into the WTO and has led the delegation for the U.S.-Baltic Partnership Charter. Mr. Riekstiņš has a law degree from the University of Latvia.