D ignitaries | NEW ARRIVALS New arrivals
Lu Shaye Ambassador of China
Nimrod Barkan Ambassador of Israel
Ambassador Pehringer joined the foreign ministry in 1996 after completing studies in law at the University of Vienna and the University of Göttingen. In his first job, he worked in the press and security policy departments before being sent to Luxembourg as an exchange diplomat. He returned a year later to the human rights department before doing an exchange with the German foreign ministry in Bonn in 1999. Later that year, he was posted as first secretary to Austria’s mission in Berlin for four years before going to Denmark as deputy chief of mission for three years. Back at headquarters, he worked in the Americas’ department and the Eastern Asia and UNESCO units before becoming ambassador to Latvia in 2011. From 2014 to 2016, he was the diplomatic adviser to the chancellor and later, the speaker of parliament. Pehringer is married and speaks Austrian, English, French, Italian and Russian.
Ambassador Lu joined China’s foreign service in 1987 and one year later, he was sent to Guinea on a three-year posting as an attaché. He returned to headquarters in 1991 and held several titles over the next seven years, including deputy division director, first secretary and division director, all in the African affairs department. In 1999, he was named a counsellor in the same department and two years later, he was sent to France on a two-year posting. When he returned to headquarters, he became deputy director-general in the African Affairs department for two years, before being posted to Senegal as ambassador for four years. When he returned to the African Affairs department he was named directorgeneral, a position he held for five years. In 2014, he became vice-mayor of Wuhan, in Hubei province, for one year before becoming director-general in the bureau of policy research of the Communist Party of China. Lu is married with one son.
Ambassador Barkan is a 40-year veteran of bilateral and multilateral Israeli diplomacy and policy-making. Barkan served as senior assistant to the foreign minister and the director general. At the ministry of defence, he ran and rebuilt the centre for policy research during and after the second Lebanon war in 2006. He previously headed the world Jewish and interreligious affairs bureau at the foreign ministry, and he has represented Israel in various positions, including as ambassador to the United States, Egypt and Paris. The ambassador, who is married and has two daughters, also taught international relations while on the faculty of the national defence college and the department of international relations at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Denis Fontes De Souza Pinto Ambassador of Brazil
Vikas Swarup High Commissioner for India
Ambassador De Souza Pinto joined the foreign service in 1979 and then did a twoyear stint at the Trade Promotion Department (1980-1981). In 1983, he was posted to Germany and three years later, he was transferred to Ecuador. In August 1989, he began a two-year posting in China. Back at headquarters, he worked in administration services before working under the deputy minister of foreign affairs. In 1995, he was posted as a counsellor to Paris (1995-1998) and Pretoria (19982001). Back in Brasilia, he was the general co-ordinator for budget and finances from 2001 to 2003 and deputy chief of mission to the European Union in Brussels from 2003 to 2006. After returning to headquarters, he headed the foreign service department and served as its undersecretary. Between 2013 and 2017, he was ambassador to the Vatican, during which time he accompanied Pope Francis to Brazil.
High Commissioner Swarup joined the Indian foreign service in 1986, but his bigger claim to fame is as the author of Q&A, a novel that was adapted into t h e O s c a r- w i n n i n g film, Slumdog Millionaire. In a career spanning more than 30 years, he has served in diplomatic assignments in Ankara, Washington D.C., Addis Ababa, London, Pretoria and Osaka-Kobe. At headquarters, Swarup has served as the desk officer for Southern Africa, the U.S. and Canada, director for Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan and director in charge of the office of the minister of external affairs. After serving as joint secretary of the United Nations, he was appointed the official spokesman for the ministry of external affairs in April 2015. Swarup’s wife, Aparna, is an artist whose work has been featured in several exhibitions in India and abroad. They have two sons.
Stefan Pehringer Ambassador of Austria
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Nguyen Duc Hoa Ambassador of Vietnam
Ambassador Nguyen is a career diplomat. He joined the foreign ministry in 1981 as a desk officer in the department of Chinese affairs, after which he was posted to Beijing
for four years. He returned to headquarters for eight years, first as a desk official for the department of Chinese Affairs. In 1998, he was named deputy director-general of the policy planning department. In 2002, he was named minister-counsellor and deputy chief of mission at Vietnam’s embassy in Britain, where he stayed for four years. From 2006 to 2009, he returned to his old job as deputy director general of the policy planning department. In 2010, he was named ambassador to Sweden for three years, then became director-general of policy planning. The ambassador completed a bachelor's degree in international relations at the diplomatic academy of Vietnam. He studied international relations at the University of California and Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and also studied at the National Academy of Public Administration in Vietnam. He is married to Tran Nguyen Anh Thu and has two children. SPRING 2017 | APR-MAY-JUN