Other events in Baltic States

During a telephone conversation on 29 April, Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Azubalis congratulated Latvia's new Foreign Minister Aivis Ronis, who had been approved as the country's head of diplomacy by overwhelming majority of votes at Latvia's Saeima (Parliament) on Thursday. During the conversation, Minister Azubalis expressed satisfaction with close neighbourly cooperation between Lithuania and Latvia, and invited Ronis to pay a visit to Lithuania.

The head of Lithuania's diplomacy said that he valued activities of Ronis as a joint Baltic representative at the expert group for NATO's new Strategic Concept.

Prior to this appointment, Ronis held the positions of chairman of the Latvian-American Financial Forum, Ambassador of Latvia to NATO, Ambassador of Latvia to the United States, to the United Mexican States and to the Republic of Turkey, also Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia. Before he became a diplomat, Ronis worked as a journalist at Latvian State Television. Ronis has a degree in Philosophy and Social Science of the University of Latvia. He also studied at Columbia University in New York, reports BC the press service of the Foreign Ministry.