Dimitrij Rupel

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Dimitrij Rupel with Condoleezza Rice

Dimitrij Rupel (born April 7, 1946 in Ljubljana) is a politician from Slovenia and current foreign minister of that country.

Rupel studied at the University of Essex, the University of Ljubljana (where he got his bachelor's degree in world literature and sociology), and the Brandeis University (where he got a Ph.D. in sociology).

Rupel was one of the founders of the Slovenian Democratic League (Slovenska demokratična zveza), established in 1989, and renamed to Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka) in 1991, when he was elected president.

Rupel was the first foreign minister of Slovenia, from 1990 until 1993, during the country's separation from Yugoslavia. In 1993, he was a representative in the National Assembly of Slovenia.

In 1994, most of Rupel's party merged into the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia. He was also elected mayor of Ljubljana in 1994, took charge in 1995, and remained at this position until 1997 when he was appointed ambassador to the USA.

Rupel returned to the post of the foreign minister of Slovenia in 2000. He remained at this position until July 2004, when Prime Minister Anton Rop replaced him with Ivo Vajgl. He left LDS and joined the oppositional Slovenian Democratic Party. In October 2004, this party won the election and Rupel became foreign minister in their government when it was approved by Parliament on 3 December 2004.

During 2005 he was the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE.

His niece is Slovenian pop-singer, Anja Rupel.