Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevičs was elected as the new president of the country in the parliament on Wednesday. Head of Latvian diplomacy since 2011, the 49-year-old declared homosexual will replace Egils Levits, who decided not to run for a second term, reports N1.
"I will do everything to make our country prosperous and safe," Rinkevičs said after the parliamentary vote. Rinkevičs publicly declared himself gay in 2014. He was the first politician in Latvia to do so. The Latvian president has a mostly ceremonial role.
Zelenski also congratulated him on his election.
Latvia is a member of the EU and NATO and strongly supports Ukraine in the war against Russian aggression and its accession to the EU and NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Rinkevich on his election, saying that he is a "true friend of Ukraine".
"Latvia will be in good hands for the next four years," Levits said after the election of a successor. Before becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rinkevičs worked as a foreign policy analyst for public radio Latvijas Radio, and then worked for the Ministry of Defense and the Office of the President.
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