Ambassador Aivis Ronis served as Ambassador to the U.S. from 2000 until September 2004, and Ambassador to Mexico from 2002 to 2004. He was with the Latvian diplomatic service since its re-establishment in 1991, where he served as Deputy Secretary for Foreign Affairs as well as ambassador to Turkey. Prior to his diplomatic career he was a TV journalist and Latvian youth chess champion. He was Latvia's Ambassador to NATO in Brussels from the end of 2004 until December 2005. He is now working in the private sector in Riga.