Member of the European Parliament and Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic

Ambassador Eduard Kukan was elected Member of the European Parliament after the elections held in May 2009. He began his diplomatic career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague in 1964 where he held numerous significant positions. He served at the Embassies of Zambia (1968 – 1973), United States (1977 – 1981) and Ethiopia (1985 – 1988). In 1990 he became Permanent Representative of Czechoslovakia (later Slovakia) to the UN. 1994 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic (only 10 months in the office until the parliamentary elections) and again from 1998 to 2006 (two terms). In 1998 Amb. Kukan was appointed Special Envoy of the UN for the Balkans by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan where he served until 2001.