Edgars Rinkēvičs


Edgars Rinkēvičs 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. 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.
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. 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.
On November 6, 2014, he publicly announced on his Twitter profile that he is gay. 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.
He was confirmed as minister of foreign affairs in the cabinets of Māris Kučinskis and Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš.