His Excellency Mr. Jan Kavan

Vice Chairperson of UNCPGA and President of the 57th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Jan Kavan, a member of the Czech Social Democratic Party, was Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002 and Deputy Prime Minister from 1999-2002. He served as President of the United Nations General Assembly from 2002 to 2003.

Mr. Kavan was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament) between 1990 and 1992 and again from 2002 to 2006. In between, he served as Senator in the Upper Chamber of Parliament from 1996 to 2000. He has been actively involved in news media, founding and directing Palach Press, a Charter 77 press agency based in London, UK, from 1970 until 1990, and serving as editor of the East European Reporter from 1986 to 1990.

Mr. Kavan is an Honorary Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Karl Lowenstein Fellow in Politics and Jurisprudence at Amerherst College in Massachusetts, U.S., and holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Adelphi University, New York. He was Parliamentary Assistant of CSSD MP from 2017 to 2021 and adviser to EuroMEP from 2020 to 2024, as well as Chairman of the Board of Czech-Slovak-Iranian Chamber of Commerce from 2015-2023.

He has been a member of the executive board of the European Leadership Network (ELN) since 2015, Vice President for International Affairs of Social Democratic Seniors (SDS) since 2019, Member of the Academic Council of the School of International Relations in Prague since 2015, Member of the Board of Advisers at the Centre for UN Studies at the University of Buckingham (UK) since 2020, and Ambassador of the International Caspian-Aral Basin Revival Fund since 2023.

Mr. Kavan has received several human rights awards, as well as being named a Companion of Honor in the UK and inducted into the UK’s International Order of Merit.