ASTANA – The Council of the European Union (EU) appointed Eduards Stiprais as Central Asia’s new EU Special Representative (EUSR) on Feb. 24.
Eduards Stiprais. Photo credit: Latvian Foreign Ministry
According to the council’s press service, Stiprais will take up his duties on March 1 for an initial two-year mandate, succeeding Terhi Hakala.
Stiprais, a Latvian diplomat, has served as Latvia’s Permanent Representative to the EU, Deputy State Secretary — political Director of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Head of the EU Delegation to Uzbekistan between 2016 and 2020. He has also been Latvia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom and France.
The council also extended Luigi Di Maio’s mandate as EUSR for the Gulf region for another two years.
Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko congratulated his colleague on his appointment, writing on his X account: “Congratulations to our good friend and colleague Eduards Stiprais on his appointment! We look forward to building stronger relations together on the basis of an already solid foundation in Trade, Connectivity, Energy, including Green one, REMs, Resilience and Democratic Progress!”
Central Asia and EU relations continue to make strides, with representatives set to gather at the EU-Central Asia ministerial meeting in Ashgabat on March 3-4, followed by the EU-Central Asia summit in Samarkand on April 3-4.
