Edita Hrdá

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU

 

Edita Hrdá graduated from the Faculty of Trade at University of Economics in Prague in 1986 and Faculty of Management and Informatics in 1989. Subsequently, she had worked for five years as a translator and interpreter of Spanish and German languages. In 1991 and 1992, she attended Diplomatic Academies in Madrid and Vienna, respectively.

In 1992, she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. At first, she worked as the director of the Department of Latin America and subsequently as director for Central Europe. From 1999 to 2003, she was appointed Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Argentina and Paraguay. Between 2006 and 2010, she served as the Director General of the Section of the Minister and Chief of Staff.

From 2011 to 2015, she held the position of Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations in New York. In 2011, she was elected Chair of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

At the end of 2015, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy appointed Ms. Hrdá as Managing Director for the Americas of the European External Action Service (EEAS). She has thus become the highest-ranking Czech citizen within the European External Action Service since its establishment in 2010.

Since 1 October 2020, she has served as the Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU and the Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the COREPER II Committee.

She speaks English, German, Spanish, French and Russian.