Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold for Valentin Inzko

15.12.2022

Chairman of the Council of Carinthian Slovenes (NSKS), Ambassador Valentin Inzko from Suetschach/ Sveče was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold for services to the Republic of Austria on Tuesday in Vienna. Among other things, as High Representative, he played a key role in consolidating peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The AGSM and FUEN would like to congratulate him! Iskrene čestitke!

"Today's honoring of Ambassador Inzko is a tribute to his extraordinary diplomatic life's work far beyond Austria's borders - as Austrian Ambassador in Sarajevo and in Ljubljana and as long-standing High Representative of the United Nations for Bosnia and Herzegovina," said the Secretary General in the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, who presented the award.

"Ambassador Inzko distinguished himself above all through his glowing commitment in the Western Balkans, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time, he understood how to keep an eye on Austria's interests on the international stage and to consolidate Austria's good reputation as a respected player in peace policy," said Launsky-Tieffenthal.

The Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) described Inzko's career:

Ambassador Valentin Inzko joined the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981, where he was employed in the Department for Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia and the South Caucasus. From 1982 to 1986 he worked as press and cultural attaché at the Embassy in Belgrade, after which he spent three years in the United Nations Mission in New York. Other diplomatic positions were deputy head of the press department at the Foreign Ministry in Vienna and head of the OSCE mission in Serbia. He was also a cultural advisor at the Embassy in Prague for six years. In 1996, Ambassador Inzko was appointed Austrian Ambassador in Sarajevo – a time when war was raging in the immediate vicinity of Austria. As Austria's local man, he set up the Austrian embassy in Sarajevo.

Another important position in Ambassador Inzko's life was that of Austrian Ambassador to Slovenia.

Finally, thanks to his extensive experience and high international reputation, Ambassador Inzko was appointed United Nations High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Special Representative of the European Union in 2009.

For more than 12 years, Ambassador Inzko worked diligently to consolidate peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, taking into account the Dayton Accords, and to make progress towards inter-ethnic reconciliation in the country. His commitment to the Western Balkans, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina, also reflects Austria's foreign policy position that the Western Balkan states belong to the EU family: thanks to his support, Bosnia and Herzegovina was able to carry out further reforms. They were a prerequisite for today's General Affairs Council recommendation to the European Council to grant EU candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina at its forthcoming meeting.

The message and the photo are original from the ORF and can be found here.

Vest ORF-a lahko preberete tudi v Slovenskem jeziku tukaj, Tukaj pa tudi v Novicah.

Ovdje i vijest na hrvatskom jeziku ORF.