Koen Vervaeke

Koen Vervaeke (born 22 April 1959) is a Belgian diplomat and since 6 December 2007 the first European Union’s ambassador as Special Representative and Head of the European Commission delegation to the African Union in Addis Abeba (Ethiopia). He is currently the Director for Horn of Africa, East & Southern Africa, Indian Ocean and the Senior EU Coordinator for the Great Lakes region.

Born in Wilrijk, he obtained a Master in modern history and bachelor in art history at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Leuven, Belgium).

He started his career in September 1983 in Brussels at the Cultural and Public relations department of the ASLK. in October 1987, he started working for the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Koen Vervaeke worked for the Belgian Embassies in Tunis as First Secretary and in Bujumbura as Political Counsellor. From September 1995 until June 1999, he worked for the Belgian Permanent Representation to the United Nations in Geneva. He was the Belgian Foreign Ministry Spokesman under Louis Michel, during Belgium's EU Presidency in 2001 and Belgium's Special Envoy to the African Great Lakes Region. From September 2003 until the end of 2007, he was advisor to Javier Solana on African affairs and Head of the Africa Unit in the Council's General Secretariat.

In 2007, Vervaeke was appointed as both the European Union's Special Representative and Head of the European Commission delegation to the African Union. In 2011,Catherine Ashton appointed Vervaeke in the European External Action Service thereby becoming Director for the Horn of Africa, East and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.