Jozef Migaš

From 1973-1978 he studied at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. In 1982, he graduated with a Ph.D. Until 1989, he worked as an assistant professor at the Higher Political School of the Central Committee Communist Party of Slovakia in Bratislava, working in party structures at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Košice. In 1989, he became one of the founders of the Democratic Left Party, being a member of the party’s executive committee. In 1993, he switched to diplomatic work, being an adviser to the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Kiev. In 1995 and 1996, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Slovakia to Ukraine.

From 1996-2001, he was Chairman of the Democratic Left Party. During this time, he was Chairman Parliament of Slovakia (1998-2002). From 30 October 1998 to 15 June 1999, he was the Acting President of Slovakia, serving after the completion of the presidency of Michal Kováč and the political crisis lasting more than a year. In 2003, he completed an internship in foreign policy and improving English in the United States at the American Language Communication Center. He was engaged in entrepreneurial activity in the 2000s before going back to the diplomatic sphere in 2009 to become the Ambassador of Slovakia in Russia, a position he served in until 2014. On 2 February 2016, he was appointed to the post of ambassador to Belarus.[3][4]

He speaks several foreign languages outside the Slovak language: English, Russian, Ukrainian. He owns 35 hectares of land in his home town. Upon leaving Belarus for the final time as ambassador, he took a German shepherd dog which was gifted to him by the Border Guard Service of Belarus.[12]

•  Russia – Order of Friendship (28 October 2014)[13]
•  Belarus – Order of Francysk Skaryna (15 June 2020)[14]