Oskars Kastens is NDI’s resident director for Uzbekistan.  Mr. Kastens served eight years as a Member of the Latvian Parliament, where he chaired the Human Rights and Public Affairs, and European Affairs committees.  While an MP, Mr. Kastens worked on human rights, international parliamentary cooperation, economic development and Latvia’s EU accession process, among other issues relevant to NDI’s work. From 2006 to 2008, he served as Latvia’s Minister for Social Integration, responsible for coordinating anti-discrimination policy and implementing a number of programs for the Latvian diaspora, as well as participating in election observation missions to Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Belarus. Before his election to the Parliament, Mr. Kastens worked as a reporter and editor at two Latvian newspapers, and served as executive director at Consensus Ltd., a Riga-based public relations agency.