Hynek Kmoníček (born 22 October 1962) is a Czech diplomat and the current Czech Ambassador to

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. Previously, Kmoníček served as foreign policy advisor of the President Miloš Zeman, and held ambassadorial posts including Czech Permanent representative to the United Nations in New York and subsequently as Ambassador to India, Australia, and the United States.

Early life and education

Kmoníček was born in

Pardubice Pardubice (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Repub ...

, then

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, in 1962. He graduated from the University of South Bohemia with a master's degree in classical guitar and pedagogy, and later earned degrees in English language studies and Classical Arabic studies from

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

. He also completed a post-graduate program in the modern history of the Middle East at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

(Young Jewish Leaders in Diaspora, Rothberg Overseas Program). At Hebrew University, his specialization was medieval Islamic mysticism. His graduation thesis was entitled "Al-Miraj of Abu Yazid al-Bistami". His political science graduation paper was titled "Historical development of Saudi-American relations from the beginning to the JFK era."

Career

Kmoníček started his diplomatic career in 1995 as a desk officer at the Middle East Department of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. He became director of this Department in 1997. In 1999, Kmoníček was promoted to the position of Director General of Asia, Africa and America. His next promotion came in June 1999, when he was named Deputy Minister, with responsibility for Czech bilateral relations with all non-EU countries. He held this position until 2001. From 2001 to 2006, Kmoníček served as Czech Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. As a member of the

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its 79th session, its powers, ...

, Kmoníček served as Chairman of the Fifth Committee, which is responsible for administration and budgetary matters. Between 2006 and 2009, he was Czech Ambassador in India, also responsible for Bangladesh, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. In 2009, he was appointed to the position of Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal, Consular, and Current Political Issues. After his removal from the position of Deputy Foreign Minister in July 2010, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg nominated him for the post of Czech Ambassador in Australia, also responsible for New Zealand,

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, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Samoa. Schwarzenberg was reported to have commented that if possible, he would rather have sent Kmoníček to Mars. A longtime friend of President Milos Zeman, Kmoníček joined the Presidential Office on 28 March 2013 as Director of the Foreign Department with primary responsibility for the President's policy on foreign affairs. He was considered to be a key figure within the Zeman administration, advising the president on Middle Eastern, Asian and American affairs. In 2015, he was credited by the US Ambassador Andrew Schapiro as having resolved a diplomatic dispute between Schapiro and Zeman. From March 2017 to August 2022, Kmoníček served as Czech Ambassador to the United States. He presented his credentials to President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

on 24 April 2017. He also retained his post of foreign policy adviser to President Zeman. He finished his term in this post in August 2022, and was subsequently appointed as the Czech Ambassador to Vietnam. Since 2015 he has been writing about foreign affairs for the Czech newspaper '' MF Dnes'' as an external contributor.

Personal life

Kmoníček's personal interests include cooking and collecting documentary movies, world music and hot sauces from around the world. He also writes reviews for art, culture and academic journals worldwide. In a profile in August 2018 for

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, his house in Washington DC was shown to be decorated with trophies from various animals he had killed around the world as part of his diplomatic activities. In 2015, a Czech scientist who discovered a new species of beetle named it after Kmoníček as a token of a gratitude for assistance he had provided as ambassador.

References