On 18 August 2020, during an official ceremony in Riga Castle, the President of Latvia, Egils Levits, presented credentials to the Ambassador-designate of Latvia to the State of Israel, Aivars Groza.
The Ambassador began his diplomatic career in 1994 at the Foreign Ministry’s Planning Group. He has been appointed Head of State Protocol, Ambassador-at-Large at the Economic and Bilateral Relations Directorate and Ambassador-at-Large for the Diaspora. Worked as Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Latvia.
Aivars Groza has served as a diplomat at the Latvian Embassy in Germany and as Consul General at the Latvian Consulate General in Saint Petersburg. Has been posted as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia, and Slovakia.
Ambassador Groza has graduated from the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Latvia and attended the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany. He is fluent in German, English and Russian.
Aivars Groza is succeeding Elita Gavele, who has been representing Latvia’s interests in the State of Israel since 2016.