Czech Republic's Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomáš Petříček discussed his country's recent application for Observer Status at the Arctic Council and answered questions from the global audience.
The Czech Republic recently submitted an application for Observer Status in the Arctic Council. In this event Minister Petříček discussed why the Czech Republic is applying for Observer Status in the Arctic Council and how the Czech Republic is already involved in Arctic affairs.
Speaker:
Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Tomáš Petříček.
The dialogue was moderated by Mr. Tero Vauraste, Regional Director Europe of Iceye ltd. and former Chairman of the Arctic Economic Council
Tomáš Petříček was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on October 16, 2018.
Tomáš Petříček was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, in charge of setting the overall policy and strategic goals of the Foreign Ministry. He previously served as Deputy Minister of Social Affairs of the Czech Republic. He is a member of the Czech Social Democratic Party.
Before joining the government, Mr Petříček was a senior advisor in the European Parliament and had a successful career in local government in the City of Prague. He also served as a lecturer in International Political Economy at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University.
He holds a PhD in International Relations and is fluent in English and conversational in French.
MSc (Soc), Lt Cdr (Ret) Tero Vauraste is Regional Director Europe of Iceye ltd, an Earth Observation service provider with a microsatellite constellation. He is the owner and President of Mariadi ltd., an international strategic, Arctic and maritime consultancy agency in Helsinki, Finland. He has served as CEO of Nurminenlogistics Plc, a Finnish logistics service company as well as CEO of Arctia, a polar maritime services company with a fleet of more than 30 vessels operating in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean. He has been the CEO of Hertz Car Rental in Finland and SVP of Ground Handling with Finnair. He has served in various executive positions in the security industry. He has been as a vessel master, a special unit commander and a SAR instructor in Finnish Coast Guard. He has served in the Executive Committee of the Arctic Economic Council 2014-2019 and was the Chairman 2016-2018. He is an Emissary of the Arctic Circle and a member of the its Advisory Board. He is a Board member in Finnish Arctic Society and a member of Advisory Board of Finnish Lifeboat Institution. He has various other positions of trust. He has provided many papers and articles considering Arctic developments and is a well-known speaker in the international Arctic fora. He has an active sports background. He is a Doctoral student in the National Defense University of Finland researching security of supply.
