predecessor successor children birth_place party office primeminister birth_date term_start spouse signature image article_title term_end name alma_mater
guntis ulmanis valdis zatlers 2 riga , latvia independent president of latvia vilis emsis aigars kalvītis krištopans andris Šķēle andris bērziņš einars repše indulis 1 december 1937 8 july 1999 imants freibergs vaira vike freiberga signature.svg ministru jpg prezidenta tikšanās ar eksprezidenti -lrb- 4108711953 -rrb- . vaira vīķe-freiberga
 8 july 2007 vaira vīķe-freiberga university of toronto mcgill university
vaira vīķe-freiberga

vaira vīķe-freiberga -lrb- born 1 december 1937 -rrb- was the sixth president of latvia and the first female president of latvia .
she was elected president of latvia in 1999 and re-elected in 2003 .
dr. vaira vīķe-freiberga is a professor and interdisciplinary scholar , having published eleven books and numerous articles , essays and book chapters in addition to her extensive speaking engagements .
as president of the republic of latvia 1999 -- 2007 , she was instrumental in achieving membership in the european union and nato for her country .
she is active in international politics , was named special envoy to the secretary general on united nations reform and was official candidate for un secretary general in 2006 .
she remains active in the international arena and continues to speak in defense of liberty , equality and social justice , and for the need of europe to acknowledge the whole of its history .
she is a well-known pro-european , as such , in december 2007 she was named vice-chair of the reflection group on the long-term future of the european union .
she is also known for her work in psycholinguistics , semiotics and analysis of the oral literature of her native country .
