Eduard Kukan

Eduard Kukan (born 26 December 1939) served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia from 1998 to 2006. He was a candidate in the presidential election held on 3 April 2004, and although pre-election polls had suggested he would come in first, he actually came in third behind former prime minister Vladimír Mečiar and Ivan Gašparovič, thus preventing him from contesting the run-off. He was elected member of European parliament in 2009 election.

Kukan graduated from The Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1964, where he has also gained an excellent command of the Swahili language. After graduation he received a Doctorate in Law from the Faculty of Law of the Charles University in Prague.

Since then his employments have included:

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia in Prague (began on 1 August 1964)
    • Headquarters in the Department of Sub-Saharan Africa (1964–1968)
    • Secretariat of the Minister (1973–1977)
    • Director of the Department of Sub-Saharan Africa (1981–1985)
    • Director of the Department of Latin America (1988–1990)
  • Czechoslovak Embassy in Lusaka (1968–1973)
  • Czechoslovak Embassy in Washington from as Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Ambassador (1977–1981)
  • Czechoslovak Embassy in Addis Ababa from as Ambassador (1985–1988)
  • Permanent Representative of Czechoslovakia to the United Nations in New York (1991)
  • Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the UN (1993)
    • UN Chairman of the Committee for Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Affairs
    • Special Envoy for the Balkans (1991–2001)
  • Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia (March 1994 – December 1994)
  • Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia (October 1998–2006)
  • Special Envoy for the Balkans (1991–2001)
  • Member of European Parliament (2009–)

Eduard Kukan is married and has two adult children. In addition to his native tongue and Swahili, he speaks English, Russian, and Spanish. In 1993, he was awarded an honorary law degree by the Upsala College in New Jersey, U.S..

Kukan is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Global Panel Foundation.