Kevin Rex Event Friday, March 31

LNAK invites you to an evening in honour of Ambassador Kevin Rex on Friday, March 31 7 pm at the Canadian Latvian Cultural Centre

LNAK will be presenting Kevin Rex with a special honour to thank him for his service to the Baltic States during his time as Canada’s Ambassador to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania from 2018 to 2022. The evening will start with a cocktail hour. After the presentation to Kevin Rex, he will share his reflections on his time in Riga.

Kevin Rex can list many accomplishments as a member of Canada’s diplomatic corpus. He has been an advisor to the Prime Minister on foreign affairs, an advisor to the United Nations, and the CIDA director in Afganistan. Kevin Rex led Canada’s relief missions after the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal. He has also been Canada’s Chargé D’Affaires in Serbia. He has received multiple accolades and rewards in recognition of his work.

Ambassador Rex was the Director of Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Eastern European and Eurasian division, responsible for political and economic relations with the 19 nations in this region.

In 2018 Kevin Rex was named Ambassador of Canada to the Baltic States, with his office based in Riga. During his time in Latvia he showed a deep appreciation and interest in Latvians both in Latvia and Canada. During his time as Ambassador the level of cooperation between Canada and the Baltic States as part of Europe and NATO increased dramatically. Ambassador Rex actively promoted a strong relationship between Canada and Latvia, emphasizing our common values of democracy and freedom. In particular, he championed the growth of Canada’s military presence and leadership in Latvia as part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup. During his time in Latvia, Canada’s military deployment in Latvia grew to the be the largest Canadian military presence outside of Canada.

In 2022, Kevin Rex’s time in Riga came to an end and he took on his present role as Director General, Global Affairs Canada. Global Affairs is manages diplomatic relations, promotes international trade and provides consular services.

Last November, LNAK voted to award Kevin Rex with its highest honour, and we look forward to presenting it to him on March 31.

LNAK invites you to join us. We ask that you RSVP for the event by e-mail to lnak@lnak.org or by phone to 416-755-2353 by March 24. We would love to have a full house to demonstrate our appreciation for Canada’s oustanding contribution to the security and economic growth of Latvia. This is a unique event, not only because it is a chance for us to say thank-you, but because the event will be entirely in English. It is a great opportunity for all of us of Latvian descent or with an affiliation with Latvia, including our non-Latvian partners, to participate. We encourage you to get the word out to your network of friends including your Canadian friends and colleagues who might be interested in pursuing business opportunities in Latvia.

We have also extended an invitation to the Estonian and Lithuanian communities, local politicians and representatives of Ukrainian and Eastern European nations.

For those who do not live close to Toronto or who are not able to attend, we invite you to participate via Zoom:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86833931805?pwd=NUpTWnR6cDRDUlE0Qks2V1JXWFRjUT09

LNAK extends a heartfelt thank-you to the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) and LIAA Canadian representative Ilze Lācgalve for their generous financial support of this event. We are delighted to be working together with LIAA to show Kevin Rex that his work is appreciated not only in Latvia, but also by our Latvian Canadian community. 

Fritz Traugott Kristbergs
President, Latvian National Federation in Canada