H.E. Ms. Frances Lanitou has served as Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to the Kingdom of the Netherlands with parallel accreditations to the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg from 2020 until present day. Ambassador Lanitou presented her credentials to the King of the Netherlands on September 16, 2020 and to OPCW on November 4, 2020.
Before this, she served as Ambassador of the MFA Economic Diplomacy Project for Strategy Development and Capability Building from 2016 until 2020.
Ambassador Lanitou has also served as the Ambassador of Development Cooperation including during Cyprus Presidency of EU Council (second half of 2012) from 2010 to 2013, as well as Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to Hungary with parallel accreditations to Bosnia Herzegovina and Moldova from 2006 until 2010.
Furthermore, Ambassador Lanitou has worked as the Deputy Head of Mission of the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, the Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations HQ in New York, as well as the Representative of Cyprus to the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the UNGA from 1993 to 2004.
Ambassador Lanitou has also served as a member of the Cyprus Delegation to the CSCE Helsinki Follow-Up Meeting and Summit in 1992.
Regarding education, Ambassador Lanitou has received a BA in Philology from the University of Athens in Athens, Greece, a MA in English from Columbia University in New York, United States of America, a LLM in International Humanitarian Law from the University of Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland, a MSt in International Relations from Cambridge University in Cambridge, United Kingdom, as well as an MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from HEC Paris in Paris, France.
Ambassador Lanitou is fluent in Greek (her mother tongue), English (bilingual), French (university level), and German (basic).
Ambassador Lanitou has also worked in banking and teaching before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus in 1991.
