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On 11 July 2025, during a ceremony at Riga Castle, President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs presented a letter of credence to Normans Penke, the incoming Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Latvia to the Kingdom of Sweden.
Normans Penke began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992 as Director of the Legal Department. He has served as Deputy State Secretary for Legal and Consular Affairs, as well as for International Organisations and Trade Issues. From 2004 to 2008, he held the position of State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since 2017, he has served as Inspector General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, he has represented Latvia in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Russian Federation, the United Nations in New York, and Japan. He has also served as non-resident ambassador to Ireland and the Republic of Korea. Since 2018, he has been Latvia’s non-resident ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Singapore, and Malaysia.
He has been awarded the Cross of Recognition, Second Class, by the Republic of Latvia, the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana by the Republic of Estonia, and the Order of Leopold by the Kingdom of Belgium, receiving the rank of Officer.
Ambassador Penke holds a degree in law from the University of Latvia and pursued further diplomatic training in the Foreign Service Programme at the University of Oxford at the beginning of his career.
He replaces Ilze Rūse, who has served as Ambassador to Sweden since 2021.