Previous to his appointment as the Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations, Mr. Dapkiunas served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Director of the Americas Department (1997 to 2004); Head of the Office for the United States and Canada (1995 to 1997); and Assistant to the Minister (1994 to 1995).

He was also Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Belarus to the United Nations (1992 to 1994), and Second Secretary of the Chernobyl International Cooperation Department in Belarus' Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1992).  From 1985 to 1988, he served as a lecturer in the Interpretation Department of the Minsk State Institute for Foreign Languages.

Mr. Dapkiunas has been a Member of the Board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2002, Deputy Head of the Recruitment and Postings Commission of Belarus' Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2001, and a Member of the Personnel Assessment Commission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2002.

He holds a doctorate in political science from Belarusian State University and a Higher Education Diploma in languages (English and French) from the Minsk State Institute for Foreign Languages.  His knowledge of languages includes Belarusian, English, French, Polish and Russian.

Born in Minsk on 11 April 1963, Mr. Dapkiunas is married and has a daughter and a son.