Ambassador
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Estonia to Georgia
RIINA KALJURAND
Riina Kaljurand is the Ambassador in Georgia since August 2020.
Prior the posting to Tbilisi as the Estonian Ambassador to Georgia and Armenia, Riina Kaljurand worked as an advisor in the Policy Planning Department of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). She was formerly a Research Fellow of the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS), based in Tallinn and her main research areas comprised the security of the Baltic Sea Region, the Nordic-Baltic Security and Defence cooperation and Russia’s soft power. She was the Director of the Lennart Meri Conference from 2013 to 2018.
She started her career at the Estonian MFA in 1993 and worked there until 1997, including tours in the Embassies in Oslo and Stockholm. In 2002, she was briefly employed as a research assistant by the University of Stockholm. From 2003-2004 she worked in Kyiv within the framework of the “Public Administration Reform” project run by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). From 2004-2007 she worked at the Estonian Ministry of Defence, including two and a half years as an advisor to the Permanent Undersecretary. From 2007-2012 she worked as a Deputy Director of the ICDS.
She holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Stockholm and has also studied Social Anthropology at Stockholm University and the Queen’s University of Belfast.
She is in relationship and has a daughter.