November 18,
2004
Ambassador Ginte B. Damušis
Head of Mission of the Republic of Lithuania to the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),
NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium
Ambassador Ginte Damušis is the Head of Mission of the
Republic of Lithuania to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization. Appointed by President V. Adamkus, she assumed
her post in Brussels on 29 January 2001. When the North
Atlantic Council was opened up to new allies from Eastern
Europe in June 2003, she became the first female ambassador
to take a seat on the Council since NATO was founded in
1949.
Prior to her current assignment, Ambassador Damušis was
Lithuanian Ambassador to Austria from October 1998 until
January 2001. She was also accredited to represent
Lithuanian interests in Slovenia (April 1999-January 2001),
Slovakia (July 1999-January 2001) and Croatia (April
2000-January 2001).
From 1996 to 1999, Ambassador Damušis was Head of the
Lithuanian Delegation to the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Permanent Representative to
the Conventional Test Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna.
Upon joining the Diplomatic Service in 1992, Ms. Damušis
helped to establish the Lithuanian Mission to the United
Nations, where she first served as Counsellor (1992-1996).
Prior to the admission of Lithuania into the United Nations,
she was Director of the Lithuanian Information Center in New
York (1979-1991) and a guest lecturer on human rights and
democracy-building. She has also been active as a freelance
journalist and translator.
Ambassador Damušis has served on the advisory boards of the
U.S.-Baltic Foundation (Washington) and relief organization
Lithuanian Catholic Religious Aid (New York). She has also
contributed to a number of publications on foreign policy
and security matters.
Ambassador Damušis was awarded the Commander Cross of the
Order of Merit of Lithuania in 2003. She speaks
Lithuanian, English, German, basic French and Russian.
