Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga joins the BDF Honorary Board

- With her deep knowledge and profound experience of the Baltic Sea Region, I am very pleased that Dr. Vike-Freiberga has accepted to join Baltic Development Forum and support our work in making the Baltic Sea Region a spearhead in European integration and development, says BDF Chairman Uffe Ellemann-Jensen.

BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Vaira Vike- Freiberga, President of the Republic of Latvia 1999-2007, was born in Riga in 1937. She grew up in Latvia, Germany and Morocco, and in 1954 she moved to Canada, where she earned a PhD in experimental psychology at McGill University in Montreal in 1965. Between 1965 and 1998, Dr. Vike-Freiberga pursued a professional career at the Department of Psychology at the University of Montreal. In 1998, Dr Vike-Freiberga returned to Latvia, where she became the country’s President in 1999.

Dr. Vike-Freiberga has held several prominent positions in national and international scientific and scholarly organisations. She has also been a recipient of many medals, prizes and honours for distinguished work in the humanities and social sciences. In 1998 she was elected Professor Emerita at the University of Montreal. She speaks Latvian, English, French, German and Spanish. Since 1957, Dr. Vike-Freiberga has been actively engaged in questions of Latvian identity and culture and the political future of the Baltic States. Dr. Vike-Freiberga is married to Imants Freibergs and has two children.