Baiba Braže

Baiba Braže (born 4 December 1966) is a Latvian politician and diplomat who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2024. She previously served as the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy from 2020 to 2023. A member of New Unity, Braže has held various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in her diplomatic career between 1993 and 2024.

Born in Riga, Braže studied at the University of Latvia where she earned a master's degree in law and another master's degree in communication science. She also studied in Salzburg in Austria, as well as at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the Åbo Akademi University in Finland. She began her career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 and served as the Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations from 1996 to 1998. Braže then worked as a Foreign Affairs adviser to Prime Minister Vilis Krištopans and later served as the Ambassador of Latvia to the Netherlands from July 2003 to August 2008. After her husband became the Dutch ambassador to several Asian countries, Braže moved with her family to Asia and studied at the Chulalongkorn University whilst living there.

Braže returned to the Foreign Ministry in 2011 and worked as Directorate of Security Policy and International Organisations until 2016. In 2015, she became the non-resident Ambassador of Latvia to Indonesia, becoming the first ever Latvian Ambassador to the country. She also briefly worked as the Director General of the Communications Directorate from February to July 2016. In August 2016, she was appointed Ambassador of Latvia to the United Kingdom, shortly after the Brexit referendum. Braže left her position as Ambassador to the UK in order to become the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy in May 2020, the highest ranking position any Latvian had ever held in the organisation. She served in the position until 2023, and then worked as an Ambassador at Large in the Foreign Ministry from 2023 to 2024.

In April 2024, following the resignation of Krišjānis Kariņš, Braže was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Siliņa cabinet. She became the second female Latvian foreign minister in history, since Sandra Kalniete who served in the position over 20 years prior. In June 2024, she joined New Unity, having not previously been a member of any political party during her entire diplomatic career.