View Header

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release July 1, 1997
               PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES KEITH C. SMITH AS 
              U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

President Clinton today announced his nomination of Keith C. Smith, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania.

Mr. Smith, of California, joined the Foreign Service in 1962. Throughout his tenure, he has served in Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Hungary, Norway, and Estonia. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Hungary from 1983 to 1986 and in Norway from 1986 to 1989. From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Smith was Special Advisor on U.S. Assistance to Eastern Europe; and from 1992 to 1994, he was Director of Policy and Public Affairs in the Bureau of European Affairs. In 1994, Mr. Smith was Charge d'Affaires in Estonia, and in 1995 he joined the Foreign Service Institute. He is currently the Director of Foreign Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute.

Mr. Smith attended Brigham Young University and the University of Texas. He speaks Hungarian, Spanish, and Norwegian, and is studying Lithuanian. Mr. Smith is married to Nina Brambani Smith.

-30-30-30-