Ambassador Indulis Ābelis took up his duties as the Permanent Representative of Latvia to the OECD on 1 September 2020.

Mr Ābelis holds a degree from the Faculty of Mechanics and Engineering from Riga Technical University as well as a degree in International Economic Relations from the University of Latvia.

He started his career as an engineer at the state-owned company Grindex in 1991 and then worked as a manager at Avots Ltd from 1992 to 1993. 

Mr Ābelis joined the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993, serving as a senior desk officer for international economic relations until 1995, before moving to Geneva to serve as the third secretary at the permanent representation to the UN until 1998. He subsequently served as the first Secretary at the Latvian Embassy to France until 2001 and was thereafter appointed Director of the Finance and Property Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served in that function until 2005, when he was appointed Ambassador to Ireland and served in this capacity until 2009.

Mr Ābelis led the European Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as its Director from 2009 to 2012. He subsequently served as the Latvian Ambassador to Norway until 2017. 

Prior to taking up his duties as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Latvia to the OECD and UNESCO in 2020, Mr Ābelis headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Foreign Trade and Foreign Economic Relations Promotion Department from 2017 onwards.