Following the Russian annexation of Crimea, renewed attention has been drawn to the security situation of the Baltic States – Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. How has NATO and EU membership influenced their development? What are the Baltic States doing to ensure their own security? What steps have been taken to ensure the security of these NATO Allies?

Join us for a presentation by Latvia’s Ambassador to the United Nations (New York), Jānis Mažeiks, who will address these questions on Monday, March 27 from 3-4 p.m. in Global UCF.

This event is open to the UCF community.

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Meet the Ambassador

Jānis Mažeiks took up the position of Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York in September 2013. Prior to this assignment he was Ambassador-Director General in charge of bilateral and economic relations with the non-European countries at the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Jānis Mažeiks served as Latvia’s Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and to the WTO from 2007 to 2011. In 2006-2007 he was the Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of the Republic of Latvia Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and was involved in the preparations for the NATO Riga Summit in 2006.

Jānis Mažeiks joined the Latvian diplomatic service in 1995. During his public service career he has primarily dealt with international organizations (United Nations, Council of Europe, OSCE) and has been actively involved in human rights policy development in Latvia, including during its accession process to the European Union. He served as Latvia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France between 2002 and 2005.

Jānis Mažeiks received his BA in Political Science at the University of Latvia, Riga in 1996 and obtained the degree of European Master in Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Padua, Italy in 1998. Apart from his native Latvian he speaks English, Russian, French and Danish.

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