Ivan Kondov () is a Bulgarian politician and diplomat who served as

Minister 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 foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from August 2024 to January 2025 and briefly in 2023. A

political independent An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

, he previously served as Permanent Secretary 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 ...

from 2021 to 2023 and Bulgarian Ambassador to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

from 2017 to 2021.

Early life

Kondov was born on 10 August 1968. In 1994 he graduated from the

University of National and World Economy The University of National and World Economy () is a public research university in Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot o ...

with a degree in

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

, later also acquiring courses in international relations at the Diplomatic School of Spain and the Center for Security Policy Studies. He started working in international relations in 1995, a year after graduating, as an expert in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He then worked in political affairs at the Embassy of Bulgaria, London, and afterward worked as an expert and member of the delegation of Bulgaria to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

from 2001 to 2007.

Career

Starting in 2017, he was the Bulgarian Ambassador to

. During his ambassadorship, he worked to represent Bulgaria in the country when it had the presidency of the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

. He left Madrid in mid-December and officially announced his departure in January 2021.

Views

Kondov has been a supporter of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, saying that

will be secure when Ukraine becomes a full member of the organization as it would strengthen NATO's eastern flank, specifically in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

Personal life

He speaks fluently in other languages like Spanish, English, French, and Italian, and sometimes uses Russian and Portuguese.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kondov, Ivan 1968 births Living people Ministers of foreign affairs of Bulgaria Independent politicians in Bulgaria