Following the departure of Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Adrienne Galanek, the United States Embassy in Belize, on Thursday, July 26th introduced Galanek’s successor, Keith R. Gilges via their official Facebook page. Gilges, a career Foreign Service Officer, assumed the position on Tuesday, July 24th, and has expressed his excitement to be in Belize and continue strengthening the relationship between Belize and the United States of America.
“I am excited to be in the ‘Jewel’ and am looking forward to getting to know the country and to meeting as many Belizeans as possible over the next three years. I will work to continue and deepen the already warm and productive relationship between the United States and Belize,” were Gilges first words for the Belizean people.
Gilges brings to Belize a vast experience in foreign diplomacy as a diplomat. He was most recently detailed to the National Security Council at the White House where he served as the Director for North America overseeing interagency policy development involving Canada and Mexico. Gilges previously served in the Office of Canadian Affairs at the State Department from 2015-2017 as well. His professional profile includes serving in various positions at U.S Missions in other countries like Kenya, and Mozambique in Africa, and Brazil in South America. He was also based in Trinidad and Tobago, in the Caribbean from 2012 until 2015 serving first as Chief of the Political/Economic Section and then as Deputy Chief of Mission.
While in Washington, Gilges gave service to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research as Chief of Staff to Assistant Secretary Randall Fort, and as the Bureau’s liaison to Capitol Hill as well.
Gilges joined the Department of State in 2001, after serving as Deputy Director of the U.S-Asia Environmental Partnership at the U.S Consulate General in Hong Kong. He was involved in a joint commerce Department-USAID program from 1998 to 2001. Before this, he worked for six years from 1990 to 1996 as an environmental policy advocate for a small non-profit professional association in Washington. Gilges holds a Master’s Degree of Science in Environmental Management (with distinction) from the University of Hong Kong, along with a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, USA. He also speaks Portuguese and Swahili, a common language of the African Great Lakes region, including parts of eastern and south-eastern Africa countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Rwanda among others.
Galanek joined the U.S Embassy in Belize as Deputy Chief of Mission in 2015 and then as Chargé d’Affaires a.i.until 2018.
