Vygaudas Ušackas

Garbės daktaras / Honorary Doctor (Suteiktas vardas 2013-11-13)

Lawyer, diplomat, political and public figure Vygaudas Ušackas has been representing Lithuania, the EU and NATO for many years.

Vygaudas Ušackas was born in 1964 in Skuodas. He studied at the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University there he received law degree in 1990. At the same year he continued political science and international economics studies at the University of Oslo in Norway, later at Aarhus University in Denmark, specializing in political science.

In 1991 Ušackas started working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. A year later, he worked as an adviser to the Lithuania’s Mission to the European Community and NATO. Soon afterwards in 1996 he took the position of the head of Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later he worked as the Vice-Minister (since 1999) and as the chief negotiator of Lithuania’s accession to the European Union.

The year 2001 signifies the beginning of impressive diplomatic career of Ušackas. Since 2001 he worked as Lithuania’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in the USA and Mexico for five years. Since 2006 he was appointed Lithuanian Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

In 2008, Ušackas became the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Two years later, in 2010, he served as the European Union Special Representative in Afghanistan as well as the Head of Delegation of the European Union to Afghanistan. Since 2013 Ušackas is the representative of the European Union and the head of European Union’s delegation in Russia.

Ušackas’ merits are recognized by state awards of Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Spain, Poland, Norway, France, Ukraine and Lithuania. In 2004 the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago nominated Vygaudas Ušackas as the person of the year. He was also nominated as a person of merit to Utena, honorary resident of Skuodas and Ukmergė districts, honorary member of Lithuanian National Union of Students.

Active political and diplomatic work of Vygaudas Ušackas is enriched by significant contribution to academic, social activities, support to non-governmental organizations. During his diplomatic and political career, he gave lectures and published articles at the universities of the European Union, the United States, Russia, China, India and other countries.

Ušackas is the mentor of one of the best-known youth initiatives “Mission Siberia” promoting patriotism and citizenship. He has significantly contributed to idea generation, organization and implementation of this project.

Having evaluated the merits of His Excellency Vygaudas Ušackas, Vytautas Magnus University awarded Ušackas with VMU Honorary Doctorate in political science on 13 November 2013. The regalia of MVU Honorary Doctor were awarded on 10 March 104.