Πρέσβυς

Ambassador Kornelios S. Korneliou
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus

Ambassador Kornelios S. Korneliou was born in Nicosia, Cyprus on 29 June 1963. He graduated from Kykkos High School in Nicosia and studied Political Science, Philosophy and American Cultural History at the Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, Germany. He wrote a thesis on “Greece’s Membership in the European Economic Community and its consequences on its foreign policy”.

Since 1989, Ambassador Korneliou is a member of the Diplomatic Service of the Republic of Cyprus. He served at the Embassy of Cyprus in Germany, as Director of the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Permanent Representative to the European Union in Brussels, Ambassador to Austria with parallel accreditation to Croatia, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, Slovenia, OSCE, IAEA, UNIDO, CTBTΟ and UN Office in Vienna, Director of the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to France with parallel accreditation to Andorra, Monaco and UNESCO and as Permanent Representative to the European Union in Brussels, whereas he served as President of the Committee of the Permanent Representatives (COREPER II) during the first Presidency of Cyprus of the Council of the European Union (July to December 2012). He also served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. Ambassador Korneliou was appointed in 2019 as Secretary General for European Αffairs. From April 2020 to April 2023, Ambassador Korneliou served as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus. As of September 2023, Ambassador Korneliou has been appointed as Ambassador of the Republic of Cypurs to the State of Israel.

Ambassador Korneliou has received decorations from Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, Poland, Serbia, Greece and the Holy See. He has also been awarded an Honorary doctor from the European University of the Republic of Serbia.

He is married to Xenia Nicolaidou and they have one daughter, Maria.