"Both diplomats have great experience with the regions and their issues. In Greece, Czech interests will be represented by Ivo Šilhavý, who has repeatedly dealt with the issue of migration, and to Cuba will go career diplomat Zdeněk Kubánek, who has spent most of his professional life in Latin America," said Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský.

Ivo Šilhavý worked from 1996 to 2003 in the Office of the President for President Václav Havel, and since 2003 he has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department, Head of the Representative Office of the Czech Republic in Ramallah, and the Head of Mission at the Czech Embassy in Pristina. He is moving to the ambassadorial post from his current position as Special Envoy for Migration.

Zdeněk Kubánek has worked in the Foreign Service since 1990 and since 1995 his career has been linked to Latin American countries. He has served at the embassies in Buenos Aires and Montevideo and then as Czech Ambassador to Chile and now Mexico.

Both of these heads of embassies already have the approval of the receiving country, the so-called agrément. Ivo Šilhavý will travel to Greece during this summer, while Zdeněk Kubánek will travel to Havana at the end of this year.