Head of Mission
head of mission
ELIZABETH VARBANOVA
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Ambassador Elizabeth Konstantinova Varbanova was born on the 22nd of October 1973, in Sofia, Bulgaria. She graduated with a degree in Japanese studies at Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”. After competitive qualification, she was awarded a scholarship by the Japanese Ministry of Education and Science to study in the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, where she obtained a Master’s degree in international relations.
She joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria in April 2001. Her first diplomatic posting was as an attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Tokyo, Japan. After returning, from 2004 to 2009, she worked in the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation division of the Security Policy directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. From September 2009 to July 2011, Elizabeth Varbanova was posted as deputy head of mission at the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Copenhagen, Denmark. Then, following a competitive recruitment process, she was approved by the European External Action Service (EEAS) to carry out diplomatic duties in the political division of the EU Delegation in Tokyo, Japan. From August 2015 to August 2020, she worked in the Security and Defence Policy directorate at the EEAS headquarters in Brussels, while also being the alternate chair of the Council Working Group on Non-Proliferation CONOP. Following her return to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sofia, in September 2020, she was appointed as head of the East Asia, Australia and Oceania division. From June 2022 to December 2025, she was the director of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while also being a European correspondent. She presented her credentials to H.M King Willem-Alexander on the 17th of December 2025.
Ambassador Varbanova speaks English, Japanese, French and Russian. She is married with two children and a cat.