Koen Vervaeke (born 22 April 1959 in
Wilrijk
Wilrijk (; former, original spelling: ''Wilrijck'') is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Belgian province of Antwerp. Wilrijk had been a separate municipality before January 1, 1983; the enlarged municipality of Antwerp wa ...
) is a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
diplomat
A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...
who has been serving as Managing Director for Africa at the
European External Action Service
The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the diplomatic service in charge of executing all Foreign relations of the European Union, international relations of the European Union. The EEAS is led by the Vice-President of the European Co ...
(EEAS) since December 2015. He was previously the Director for Horn of Africa, East & Southern Africa, Indian Ocean, and the Senior EU Coordinator for the Great Lakes region. He also served in the past as Head of the
European Union Delegation to the
African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
in
Addis Abeba
Addis may refer to:
Places
*Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia
**Addis Ababa University
**Addis Ketema, a city district
*Addis, Louisiana, a town in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, US
People
*Addis (name)
*Raptile (born 1976), stage name Ad ...
, (
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
).
Early life and education
Vervaeke obtained a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in
art history
Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history.
Tradit ...
and a
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in
modern history
The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...
at the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in the Low Countries.
In addition to its main camp ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
.
Career
Vervaeke started his career in September 1983 in
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
at the Cultural and
Public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
department of the
ASLK. In October 1987, he started working for the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Koen Vervaeke worked for the Belgian
Embassies
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes a ...
in
Tunis
Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...
as First Secretary and in
Bujumbura
Bujumbura (; ), formerly Usumbura, is the economic capital, largest city and main port of Burundi. It ships most of the country's chief export, coffee, as well as cotton and tin ore. Bujumbura was formerly the country's political capital. In la ...
as Political Counsellor. From September 1995 until June 1999, he worked for the Belgian Permanent Representation to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
in
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
. He was the Belgian Foreign Ministry Spokesman under
Louis Michel
Louis Michel (; born 2 September 1947) is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as minister of foreign affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. From ...
, during Belgium's
EU Presidency in 2001 and Belgium's
Special Envoy
Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...
to the
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...
Region, where he became involved in the Congo peace negotiations and the resulting
Sun City Agreement
The Sun City Agreement was an agreement signed between some of the warring parties in the Second Congo War on 2 April 2002 at the luxury South African casino resort of Sun City, as a result of the Inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD). Delegates hoped t ...
.
From September 2003 until the end of 2007, Vervaeke was advisor to
Javier Solana
Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga CYC (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary Gener ...
on
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
n affairs and Head of the Africa Unit in the
Council
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
's General Secretariat. and from 2007 to 2011 he was the first European Union's ambassador as
Special Representative
Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...
and Head of the European Commission delegation to the
African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
in Addis Abeba (Ethiopia). During his time as Special Representative, Vervaeke was also a member of the Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa which was set up by the
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Anders Fogh Rasmussen (; born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician who was the prime minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became ...
and held meetings between April and October 2008.
In 2011,
Catherine Ashton
Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland (born 20 March 1956) is a Labour Party (UK), British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of th ...
appointed Vervaeke to the European External Action Service
[Toby Vogel (August 4, 2011)]
Ashton names three diplomatic directors
''European Voice
''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...
''. where he became the Director for the Horn of Africa, East and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean. In 2015, Vervaeke was appointed by
Federica Mogherini
Federica Mogherini (; born 16 June 1973) is an Italian politician who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. A member of the Democratic ...
as Managing Director in charge of Africa.
See also
*
Foreign relations of the European Union
Although there has been a large degree of integration between European Union member states, foreign relations is still a largely intergovernmental matter, with the 27 states controlling their own relations to a large degree. However, with ...
Sources
Appointment of Koen Vervaeke as EU Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the Commission DelegationKoen Vervaeke as EU Special Representative to the African UnionBelgische diplomaat wordt ambassadeur voor Europese Unie(Dutch)
Africa envoy
References
External links
Koen Vervaeke
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vervaeke, Koen
Living people
1959 births
Ambassadors of the European Union to the African Union
Belgian civil servants
Belgian diplomats
KU Leuven alumni
People from Wilrijk
Permanent representatives to the African Union
Belgian officials of the European Union