Māris Riekstiņš (born 8 April 1963 in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

) is a Latvian politician and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and a former Foreign Minister of Latvia (November 2007 – April 2010). He is a former Ambassador of Latvia to the Russian Federation (September 2017 – February 2023). He currently serves as Permanent Representative of Latvia to NATO.

Biography

Riekstiņš' career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began in 1992 as a Desk Officer of the Political Department of the Europe Division, followed by the position of the Director of the Western Europe Division. In 1993, he became the Under-secretary of State, soon assuming the duties of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He remained in that position until his posting as the Ambassador of Latvia to the United States in 2004, and additionally non-resident Ambassador to Mexico. For most of 2007, Riekstiņš was Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Latvia

Aigars Kalvītis Aigars Kalvītis (born 27 June 1966) is a Latvian businessman and a former politician who was the Prime Minister of Latvia from 2004 to 2007. Currently he is the president of Latvian Ice Hockey Federation and the Chairman of the Board of Latvia ...

. In November 2007 Riekstiņš was elected the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and held this position until April 2010, when his party stepped out of the government. In February, 2011 Ambassador Riekstiņš commenced his duties as the Permanent Representative of Latvia to NATO in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

In his career Riekstiņš has also been Head of the Latvian Delegation for Accession to NATO, Chairman of the Advisory Council for Latvia's membership of the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

, Head of Delegation of Latvia in WTO talks in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

(1999),

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

(2000) and Cancun (2003). He has led the delegation for the U.S.-Baltic Partnership Charter and also been the Head of Latvian delegation for Estonian-Latvian sea border delimitation (agreement concluded in 1997 and ratified), as well as Lithuanian-Latvian sea border delimitation (agreement concluded in 1999, not ratified yet). Riekstiņš has a law degree from the

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

, preceded by graduation of the Faculty of Pedagogy of the Latvian Academy of Sport Education. He has two children.

Party affiliation and political career

In 2006 Riekstiņš joined the People's Party. He was a board member and presidential candidate in the 2007 Presidential election for the Party. He held the position of Foreign Minister in three coalition governments under the leadership of Prime Minister

(People's Party), Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis ( LPP/LC) and Prime Minister

Valdis Dombrovskis Valdis Dombrovskis (; born 5 August 1971) is a Latvian politician serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People since 2019 and European Commissioner for Trade since 2020. He previously serv ...

( New Era). In the run up to the 10th Saeima election in October 2010 Riekstiņš was a candidate for the parliament of the Political Alliance " For a Good Latvia", consisting of the People's Party and LPP/LC. 8 members were returned to the Saeima from the alliance.

Education

* 1987–1993 University of Latvia, Faculty of Law, lawyer, Master's Degree * 1981–1985 Latvian Academy of Sport Education, Faculty of Pedagogy, teacher, Master's Degree

Work experience

* February 2011 - 2015 Permanent Representative of the Republic of Latvia to NATO * May 2010 - Leading Scholar, Association "Sustainable Society Institute" * November 2007 – April 2010 - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia * January 2007 – November 2007 - Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Latvia * 2006 - 2007 - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Latvia to the United Mexican States (country of residence: USA) * 2004 - 2007 - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Latvia to the United States of America * 1993 - 2004 - State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia * November 1992 -August 1993 - Under-secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia * March 1992 -November 1992 - Director of the Western Europe Division; Director of the Europe Division; Desk Officer of the Political Department of the Europe Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia * 1987–1992 - Deputy Chairman; Desk Officer of the Committee of Latvian Youth Organisations MarisRiekstinsBasketball

Other related activities

* May 2009 - Chairman of the Counsellors' Convention, Latvian Academy of Sport Education * 2003 - Deputy Chairman of the Council, Latvia Basketball Association * June 2010 –November 2010 - Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia * 2002–2004 - Head of the Latvian delegation for accession negotiations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) * January 2002 - July 2002 - Chairman of Supervisory Committee on Organisation of the NATO Aspirant Countries Summit in Riga on 5 and 6 July 2002 * 1999–2004 - Chairman of the Advisory Council for the Membership of Latvia in the World Trade Organisation * 1997–1998 - Head of the Latvian delegation for the U.S.-Baltic Partnership Charter * 1998–2004 - Head of the Latvian-Italian Economic Working Group * 1996–2004 - Chairman of the Diplomatic Service Agency's Shareholders Council * July 1996 - July 1999 - Head of the Latvian delegation for negotiations on Latvian-Lithuanian sea border delimitation * October 1995 - July 1996 - Head of the Latvian delegation for negotiations on Latvian-Estonian sea border delimitation * 1995–2004 - Chairman of the Control Committee of Strategic Goods of Republic of Latvia * 2011–2015 - Member of the Chapter of Orders

Awards

Language skills

Riekstiņš is a native Latvian-speaker with proficiency in English,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

External links

* Official webpage of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization http://www.nato.int * Official webpage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia http://www.am.gov.lv * Webpage of the Embassy of Latvia to the United States of America in Washington, DC http://www.latvia-usa.org * Webpage of the People's Party of Latvia (available in Latvian) http://www.tautaspartija.lv {{DEFAULTSORT:Riekstins, Maris 1963 births Living people Politicians from Riga Ambassadors of Latvia to the United States Ambassadors of Latvia to Mexico Permanent representatives of Latvia to NATO Ministers of foreign affairs of Latvia Recipients of the Cross of Recognition Grand Officers of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd Class Grand Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Officer's Crosses of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Recipients of the National Order of Merit (Malta) University of Latvia alumni Diplomats from Riga Ambassadors of Latvia to Russia