20/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - Extending Peter Burian's mandate for EU Special Representative to Central Asia. On Tuesday 19 April, the Council adopted a decision extending the mandate of Peter Burian as the European Union Special Representative for Central Asia until 28 February 2017. His mandate was set to expire on 30 April 2016. According to the legal act on extending mandates, the budget for covering mandate related expenses from 1 May 2016 to 28 February 2017 will be €800,000. The candidate is a diplomat and former Secretary of State for the Slovak Department of Foreign Affairs and was appointed to this post on 15 April 2015. He will be in charge of monitoring the implementation of the EU's political coordination in central Asia and following up the implementation of the EU-Central Asia strategy, as well as supporting regional security. (CG)