President Grybauskaitė signs decrees on appointment of ambassadors to Georgia and Turkey

Giedrius Puodžiūnas was appointed as the Lithuania ambassador to Georgia and will start serving as of July.

Audrius Brūzga, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius’ advisor on foreign affairs, has been appointed as the Lithuanian ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Turkey. He will start serving from 8 June.

Puodžiūnas’ candidacy in February was considered at the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The diplomat held the position of first secretary of the Lithuanian Embassy in Poland between 1997 and 2000. In 2006-2012 he was Lithuania’s ambassador to Austria.

Brūzga began his diplomatic service at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1991. At first he worked at the Consular Department, the State and Diplomatic Protocol Department, Western Europe Department. Later he worked at the Lithuanian Embassies in Israel and the United Kingdom.

From 2002 to 2007, Brūzga was ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Finland. In 2007-2010, he was Lithuania’s ambassador to the United States and Mexico. In 2010, he was appointed director of the Economic Security Policy Department. In 2011-2012 he was director of Energy Security Centre under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2013 he has been the advisor to the prime minister on foreign policy.