President appoints new foreign minister into office

BNS
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President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on Wednesday appointed career diplomat Marina Kaljurand Estonia's foreign minister.

Referring to his own career in foreign service, Ilves stressed that he is pleased the job goes to a person who has worked as his colleague for two decades.

Kaljurand has been working in the Foreign Ministry since 1991, serving among other things as Estonia's ambassador to the United States, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Russia, Israel and Canada. She played an important role as an expert and negotiator in the process of Russian troops' withdrawal from Estonia in 1994 and in negotiations on the land and maritime borders between Estonia and Russia, as well as in Estonia's accession talks with the European Union and the OECD.

Kaljurand earned her law degree from the University of Tartu and also has a professional diploma from Estonian School of Diplomacy. She obtained a master's degree in international law and diplomacy in Tufts University.

Her predecessor Keit Pentus-Rosimannus resigned on July 1 after a court ruling which made her partly liable for the debt accumulated by her father's bankrupt freight company.

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