Address

Contact information

Email: gints.apals@lza.lv

Gints Apals

Senior researcher

Biography

Gints Apals, Ph.D. was born in Riga, Latvia on 11 June 1965. He studied modern history at the University of Latvia and went to the Centre for Baltic Studies, Stockholm University as a visiting scholar.  In 1990 Mr Apals joined the Institute of Latvian History, obtaining doctorate in modern history in 1994. His thesis dealt with the development of Latvian nationalism and liberalism. From 1995 to 1996 Mr Apals read diplomacy at the Foreign Service Programme of Oxford University. Since 1994 Mr Apals has been employed with the foreign service of Latvia, specialising in policy planning, EU affairs and security policy. He has been charged also with issues pertinent to Transatlantic relations and bilateral relations between Latvia and Western Europe. From 2004 to 2010 Mr Apals worked for EU Council Secretariat-General assuming the responsabilities of Political Advisor to EU Special Representative for Central Asia. In 2010 he was appointed Permanent Representive of Latvia to the OSCE, UN and other international organisations in Vienna. In 2013 Mr Apals became Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Latvia to Ireland, leaving that post in 2017. Current scholarly interests of Ambasador Apals comprise geopolitics and security policy in a wider historical context, Common Security and Defence Policy of the EU and broader military security issues. Sub-regional co-operation in Europe and the impact of globalisation form an important aspect of his research activities.