Executive Director of the International Visegrad Fund from 2006. In 1982 graduated from the University of Economics in Budapest. In 1989 he obtained his second Master of International Affairs at Colombia University, New York, USA. He joined the Foreign Service after the collapse of the totalitarian regime as First Secretary on the Embassy of Hungary in Washington, D.C. (1990-1993). 1993 – 1997 he worked as Head of Department for the Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad. In 1998 he became Head of the Department for Regional Cooperation in the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the same time Hungarian representative at the Danube Commission. Before being nominated V4 National Coordinator during the Hungarian Presidency (2005-2006) he worked for four years as Ambassador at the Hungarian Embassy in Prague.
Experts - Visegrad Group
Kristóf Forrai
Andrzej Jagodziński
Until 2006 executive director of the International Visegrad Fund. Essayist and translator from Czech into Polish. Correspondent of Gazeta Wyborcza (1990-96). Author of the Visegrad Festival.
Tamás Katona
Ambassador of The Republic of Hungary to Poland (2000-2002). Professor of history and politician. 1998-2000 professor and lecturer at Károli Gáspár Protestant University, Budapest. 1990-1998 Member of Parliament (Hungarian Democratic Forum, Hungarian Democratic People's Party). 1990-1992 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. 1992-1994 Secretary of State, Prime Minister's Office.
Michal Kořan
Deputy Director in Institute of International Relations, Prague, former Head of Research. Received his PhD in 2008 at the Masaryk University in Brno (Czech Republic). In 2012 a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. He mainly focuses on foreign policy analysis of the Central European countries, Central European sub-regional cooperation and Central Europe in European and World Affairs. He is the lead-author of an annual book analyzing Czech foreign policy and a main coordinator of the Strategic Grant of the International Visegrad Fund “The Visegrad Group in the Post-Lisbon EU: Getting Closer to Move Further”. Program chair of annual “International Symposium on Czech Foreign Policy”. His texts has been published, among others, in journals European Security, Osteuropa, Perspectives, Journal of International Relations and Development and by publishing houses Palgrave and Routledge.
René Kubášek
Advisor to the Czech minister of foreign affairs. Formerly Deputy Executive Director of the International Visegrad Fund. In 2000 graduated form the University of Economics in Prague, Faculty of International Relations. 1998 - 2003 Deputy Executive Director of the Forum 2000 Foundation in Prague under the auspices of Václav Havel, where he organized a number of conferences and collaborated with Czech NGOs. In 2004 worked as the head of media center for Ukraine in Europe and the World Conference in Kiev and later in the same year mentor of Iraqi NGO leaders in Amman, Jordan as part of the People In Need project.
Urban Rusnak
Ambassador of Slovakia in Ukraine. Studied at the Moscow Institute of Oil and Gas and at the Institute of Social Sciences at Ankara University in Turkey. PhD in Public Administration and Political Sciences. 1992-1993 worked at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs; 1994-1998 Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Turkey, Ankara. 1999-2000 Director of the Slovak Institute for International Studies in Bratislava. Former Executive Director of the International Visegrad Fund. Former director of Department of Analyses and Policy Planning in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic.
Martin Svárovský
Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the Czech Republic to Poland. Graduated in 1996 from the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts at Charles University in Prague (B.A. in History), in 1999 graduated from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague (M.A. in German Studies). In years 1997/1998 he did the Bundestag Internship Program. In 1998 was at Fridrich Wilhelms University in Bonn. In 1999 worked within an Internship at the Office of the President of the Czech Republic and from 1999 has been working at the Czech MFA. Until 2002 served as a Head of unit for Visegrad Group and non-German speaking countries at the Central European Department. In years 2002 – 2006 he served as a Deputy Chief of Mission at the Czech Embassy in Budapest. From 2007 to 2008 Deputy Director of the Central European Department of the MFA, from 2008 until 2010 Deputy Director of the Strategy and Analyses Department. From August 2010 at Embassy of the Czech Republic to Poland.
Jiří Sýkora
V4 Public Relations Coordinator,International Visegrad Fund.
