EMBASSY DIRECTORY

Embassy of Albania

2100 S Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 223-4942 | Email: embassy.washington@mfa.gov.al

Floreta Faber has been Albania’s ambassador to the US since 2015. Born in 1968 in the northern city of Shkoder, Faber graduated from Tirana University’s Faculty of Economics in 1990, then completed a two-year course in international marketing and strategy at the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo (1993-95).

From 1995 to 2000, Faber worked with Deloitte & Touche, helping the accounting firm open its new branch in Tirana; that period included a secondment program with Deloitte’s Czech office in Prague. She was executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce of Albania from 2000—when it opened—until her current appointment.

Faber

Besides the embassy itself, Faber oversees two consulates —one in Washington and one in New York—as well as three honorary consulates in Atlanta, Dallas and Detroit.

Her husband, Dr. Edmond Faber, is a vascular surgeon; together, they have a daughter, Kesli, and a son, Klint.

Embassy of Algeria

2118 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 265-2800 | Email: mail@algerianembassy.org

Mohammed Haneche replaced Ahmed Boutache, who had served only a year, as Algeria’s ambassador to the US.

Born in 1953 in Béjaïa, Haneche graduated from the National School of Administration (ENA) in 1977. That year, he was recruited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, later heading its Western Europe-North America Division (DEOAN) from 1979 to 1982.

His next assignments were first secretary, then counselor, at the Algerian Embassy in Ottawa (1988-89); deputy director of media relations at the Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Directorate (1989-91); ambassador to Oman (1991-93); secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry (1993-94) and ambassador to Germany, serving in Bonn and later Berlin (1994-2000). Later assignments included director-general of Europe at the Foreign Ministry (2001-05); ambassador to Spain (2005-16); and advisor to the cabinet (2016-17). In 2019, he was named Algeria’s ambassador to Italy and served in Rome prior to his current appointment.

Haneche has represented Algeria in many international meetings including the Arab League and the African Union. The diplomat speaks Arabic, French, English, Spanish and German, and is married with two children.

Embassy of Angola

2100-2108 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009

Tel: +1 202 785-1156 | Email: info@angola.org

Joaquim do Espírito Santo, born in 1959 in Congo, became Angola’s ambassador to the US in September 2019. Before taking up his current post, he directed the Africa, Middle East and Regional Organization divisions in Angola’s Ministry of External Relations (2011-18).

A career diplomat, Espírito Santo also served as minister-counselor at Angola’s embassy in France (2004-09), and as minister-counselor and chargé d’affaires at its mission in Mexico (2002-04). Before that, Espírito Santo served in various senior positions in Angola’s Ministry of External Relations, including director for Europe. He’s also an accomplished lecturer, having spoken globally on African development, peace and security issues.

Espírito Santo holds a degree in economics from Agostinho Neto University in Luanda, as well as a master’s in political science from the School of Advanced Political Studies in Paris. He speaks Portuguese, English, French, Spanish and various African languages. The ambassador is married with two children.

Sir Ronald Sanders

Embassy of Antigua & Barbuda

3234 Prospect Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007

Tel: +1 202 362-5122 | Email: embantbar@aol.com

Sir Ronald Sanders has represented Antigua & Barbuda as ambassador to the US since 2015. A seasoned diplomat, businessman and academic, Sanders served for separate periods in 2016 and 2021 as president of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States. He also chaired the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) against drug trafficking and money laundering (2003-04) and served on the executive board of UNESCO (1985-87).

Sanders was twice Antigua’s high commissioner to the UK. In 2004, he earned the distinction of being the only representative of a small state to lead an arbitration case at the WTO and win. He’s also negotiated tax and investment agreements with the US, Britain, Australia and China.

A former visiting fellow at Oxford University, Sanders holds a master’s in international relations from the University of Sussex and is the author of “Crumbled Small: The Commonwealth Caribbean in World Politics” (London, 2005).

Sanders writes a regular column in leading Caribbean newspapers and is frequently interviewed by the BBC, Caribbean News Agency and other media outlets.

Embassy of Argentina

1600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009

Tel: +1 202 238-6400 | Email: eeuu@mrecic.gov.ar

Lawyer and politician Jorge Argüello became Argentina’s ambassador to the US in February 2020 for the second time. He began his career in 1987 as a member, then chairman, of the City Council of Buenos Aires. He served twice as a national congressman—the first time during Carlos Menem’s presidency in 1991 and then during Nestor Kirchner’s presidency in 2003. While in Congress, Argüello chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee as well as a separate committee on the disputed Malvinas (Falkland) Islands. He served as Argentina’s permanent representative to the UN (2007-11), ambassador to the US (2011-12) and ambassador to Portugal and Cabo Verde (2013-15).

Ambassador Jorge Argüello

Argüello has also held various advisory positions with the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI); the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Services; the Centro de Estudos Internacionais (CEI) at Portugal’s ISCTE-IUL University; and the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE). He is married to Erika Grinberg and has four children.

Embassy of Armenia

2225 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 319-1976 | Email: armembassyusa@mfa.am

In late 2021, Lilit Makunts became Armenia’s first female ambassador to the US, replacing Varuzhan Nersesyan. Her arrival in Washington follows stints as the majority leader in Armenia’s parliament (2019-21), representing the My Step coalition, and as minister of culture in the first cabinet of Nikol Pashinyan (2018-19).

A political appointee, Makunts was born in 1983 in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Romance and Germanic philology at Yerevan State University. She has also done coursework within the framework of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Makunts worked as a senior lecturer from 2005 to 2019 at Russian-Armenian University. She was also educational project coordinator and lecturer at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s Academy of Social Democracy in Germany, and worked with the US Peace Corps in Yerevan from 2016 to 2018. She is fluent in Russian, English and German.

Ambassador

Arthur Sinodinos

Embassy of Australia

1145 17th St NW, Washington DC, 20036-4707

Tel: +1 202 797-3000 | Email: media.us@dfat.gov.au

Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s ambassador to the US since February 2020, was previously his country’s minister for industry, innovation and science, and was a senator representing New South Wales in the Australian Parliament from 2011 to 2019.

Sinodinos began his public service career in 1979, rising to senior executive in the Department of the Treasury. Upon John Howard’s 1996 election as prime minister, Sinodinos became Howard’s senior economic advisor, and in 1997, Howard’s chief of staff—a position he held for nine years.

In 2006, Sinodinos left government to work with Goldman Sachs & JBWere, as well as National Australia Bank and various corporate appointments.

In 2008, Sinodinos was named an Officer of the Order of Australia for his service to politics and the Greek community. In 2019, he became a Distinguished Fellow of the Australia & New Zealand School of Government for his promotion of public sector leadership.

Sinodinos and his wife, Elizabeth, have three children.

Embassy of Austria

3524 International Court NW, Washington, DC 20008

Chargé d’affaires

Günther

Salzmann

Tel: +1 202 895-6700 | Email: washington-ob@bmeia.gv.at

Embassy of Azerbaijan

2741 34th Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 337-3500 | Email: azerbaijan@azembassy.us

Khazar Ibrahim is Baku’s new ambassador in Washington as of July 26, 2021. He replaced Elin Suleymanov, who had the job for 10 years before being reassigned to London on July 26, 2021.

Ibrahim previously served at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington from 2002 to 2005— where his portfolio included political, military and public diplomacy issues—then came back from 2009 to 2011 as deputy chief of mission. He was also a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as head of his country’s mission to NATO until 2017, and then ambassador to Turkey for the four years preceding his appointment to Washington.

Ibrahim

Ibrahim has a master’s degree in international relations from Baku State University, and another master’s in security studies from Washington’s Georgetown University. He also attended senior courses at the NATO Defense College in Rome (2000-01).

He is married and has one son and three daughters.

Ambassador

Wendall Kermith Jones

Embassy of the Bahamas

600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Suite #530, Washington, DC 20037

Tel: +1 202 319-2660 | Email: embassy@bahamasembdc.org

Wendall K. Jones, who replaced Sidney S. Collie in March 2022 as ambassador of the Bahamas to the United States, is a prominent journalist and CEO of Jones Communications International Ltd. (JCI), which owns Radio Love 97 FM, JCN-TV Channel 14 and a book publishing venture. Jones, who studied at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, began his journalism career with the Broadcasting Corp. of the Bahamas in 1972, and later worked at WTVJChannel 4 in Miami and the Voice of America in Washington. Among other things, he’s published a locally bestselling book, “The 100 Most Outstanding Bahamians of the 20th Century” as well as its companion, “Bahamian Legends” Volumes I and II.

As a broadcaster, Jones has hosted two popular current-affairs radio and TV programs, “Jones and Company” and “Issues of the Day,” and has interviewed several famous people including Margaret Thatcher and Gen. Colin Powell. The ambassador enjoys reading, painting and playing piano in his leisure time.

Embassy of Bahrain

3502 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 342-1111 | Email: ambsecretary@bahrainembassy.org

In June 2017, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa appointed Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa as the island nation’s ambassador to the United States.

Abdulla obtained a bachelor’s degree from Boston’s Bentley University, later earning an MBA from that same institution as well as a certificate from Harvard’s Kennedy School focusing on innovation in governance.

Ambassador

Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa

In 2010, he was named governor of Bahrain’s Southern Governorate, by far the largest of the country’s four governorates. As such, he launched a partnership with the US nonprofit organization DARE to develop an anti-violence and anti-addiction program run by police officers in elementary and secondary schools. The initiative would later be transformed into a national program sponsored by Bahrain’s National Anti-Drug Committee.

In 2007, Abdulla was elected vice president of the Asian Shooting Confederation, and also served on the Bahrain Olympic Committee from 2008 to 2017. In addition, he was president of the Asian Bodybuilding Federation.

Embassy of Bangladesh

3510 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 244-0183 | Email: mission.washington@mofa.gov.bd

Muhammad Imran, the Bangladeshi ambassador in Washington since September 2022, has been a career foreign service officer since 1986.

Imran’s first job was assistant secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka (1989-94). He was next posted to consulate-general in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (1994-98) and was then counselor at the Bangladeshi Embassy in Germany (Bonn 1998-99 and Berlin 1999-2001).

Ambassador Muhammad Imran

Following posts in Ottawa as counselor at the Bangladesh High Commission in Canada (2002-05), in Kolkata, India, as deputy high commissioner (2005-08) and director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2008-10), Imran was named ambassador to Uzbekistan, with concurrent accreditation to neighboring Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

In 2013, he became ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, a position he held for seven years. In Abu Dhabi, Imran was also Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

His last job before coming to Washington was high commissioner of Bangladesh to India (2020-22). Imran graduated from Dhaka University’s Mymensingh Medical College. He also studied at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy. Imran and his wife, Dr. Zakia Hasnat Imran, have two daughters.

Ambassador

Noel Anderson Lynch

Chargé d’affaires

Pavel Shidlovsky

Embassy of Barbados

2144 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 939-9200 | Email: washington@foreign.gov.bb

Noel Anderson Lynch has been the ambassador of Barbados to the US since October 2018. Lynch began his political career as a senator in 1994, serving until 1999. He was elected to the Barbados House of Assembly for two consecutive terms (2000-08), and also served as minister of tourism and international transport.

A marketing and communications professional as well as a former pro athlete, Lynch lectured at the University of the West Indies and was CEO of the Barbados Cricket Association. He also served as president of the Amateur Athletic Association of Barbados; manager of the national track team to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney; and vicepresident of the North American and Central American Confederation of the International Association of Athletic Federations.

Lynch holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and business administration, a bachelor’s in English and Spanish, and a diploma in education teaching certificate, all from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez, as well as a master’s in marketing from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico. He is fluent in Spanish and married to Deborah Stoute.

Embassy of Belarus

1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009

Tel: +1 202 986-1606 | Email: usa@mfa.gov.by

Embassy of Belgium

1430 K Street NW, Suite #101, Washington, DC 20005

Tel: +1 202 333-6900 | Email: washington@diplobel.fed.be

Jean-Arthur Régibeau, Belgium’s ambassador to the US since September 2020, was born in 1962. Régibeau has a master’s degree in law from the State University of Liège, and a certificate in international law from the State University of Leiden in the Netherlands. In 1986, he enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS program in Bologna, Italy, earning a diploma in international relations.

As a trainee, Régibeau worked for a Belgian bank in New York (1987-88), then escorted groups of Belgian tourists visiting the US (1991-92) before joining Belgium’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998 as a diplomatic advisor to the minister of defense (1999-2002). Régibeau was first secretary at the Embassy of Berlin, then head of the private office of the defense minister. In 2007, he became director-general in charge of multilateral organizations at the Foreign Ministry. In 2016, he was named ambassador to Russia. Régibeau, a dual Belgian-Swiss citizen, speaks fluent French, Dutch, English and German, in addition to some Italian and Russian. The father of one daughter, he enjoys soccer, hiking, strategy games, history and literature.

Ambassador

Lynn Raymond Young

Embassy of Belize

2535 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 332-9636 | Email: reception.usa@mfa.gov.bz

Lynn Raymond Young is Belize’s ambassador-designate to the United States.

Born in 1958, Young earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad (1981) and an MBA from Canada’s University of Western Ontario (1991).

From 1999 to 2011, Young was president and CEO of Belize Electricity Ltd. (BEL) the sole distributor of electricity in Central America’s only English-speaking nation. And from 2011 to 2021, he was president and CEO of Belize Electric Co. Ltd. (BECOL), which generates and supplies about 50% of the country’s power from three hydro generating plants in western Belize.

Young has previously been honorary consul of both South Korea and Canada in Belize; he was also an elected representative of the St. George’s Caye Village Council. In the past, Young was on the boards of Cayman Utilities Co., Fortis Turks & Caicos, Shell Belize Ltd., the University of Belize and the nonprofit Kolbe Foundation.

Young and his wife, Margaret Althea Young, have four children.

Embassy of Benin

2124 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 232-6656 | Email: ambassade.washington@gouv.bj

Since July 2020, Jean-Claude do Rego has been ambassador in Washington of the West African nation of Benin. Before that, he was Benin’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York (2016-20).

While at the UN, do Rego on several occasions chaired the African Group of Ambassadors to the UN. In addition, he sits on the executive board of UNICEF and was on the executive boards of the UN Development Program, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) between 2016 and 2019.

Before that, he was deputy representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ethiopia. He had several senior positions within the UNHCR, including assistant regional representative for West Africa (2012-15). As such, he coordinated humanitarian aid in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.

Born in 1960 and a father of three, do Rego has a PhD in management and an MBA from the Sorbonne, and a master’s in economic sciences from the University of Dakar.

Embassy of Bolivia

Chargé

3014 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 483-4410 | Email: embolivia.wdc@gmail.com

Bojan Vujić

Embassy of Bosnia & Herzegovina

2109 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20037

Tel: +1 202 337-1500 | Email: info@bhembassy.org

Bojan Vujić may not have much experience in diplomacy, but when it comes to tennis, he’s definitely at the top of his game.

Vujić, who was named ambassador of Bosnia & Herzegovina to the United States in August 2019, was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1974. As a rising tennis player, he won pioneer and junior championships beginning at age 11, and played in the senior championship of Yugoslavia in 1992 and 1993.

He played at three Grand Slam tournaments and the Australian Open in 1993 and 1994, the US Open in 1996 and several other international competitions. Vujić ranked 275th on the 1996 Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) list of the world’s best tennis players.

Vujić says that living and working with other people in multicultural environments—and in situations where teamwork was essential—has given him the skills necessary to represent his troubled country as ambassador in Washington.

In addition to Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian, Vujić is also fluent in English and German.

Embassy of Botswana

1531-33 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

Tel: +1 202 244-4990 | Email: info@botswanaembassy.org

Onkokame Kitso Mokaila, Botswana’s ambassador to the US since August 2020, is a former businessman.

Early in his career, managed the Botswana operations of several multinational companies including Unisys, International Computer Ltd. (ICL) and Hyundai Motors. As a member of Parliament from 2004 to 2019, Mokaila held a wide range of cabinet portfolios and ministerial posts; as such, he was responsible for environmental issues, tourism, transportation, communications, minerals, energy and water resources.

Before joining politics and the corporate world, Mokaila served in the Botswana Defence Force (1980-88), attaining the rank of captain.

Onkokame Kitso

Mokaila

He is a graduate of India’s College of Military Engineering as well as the Swaziland College of Technology. Mokaila speaks English, Setswana and Hindi, and is married with three children.

Embassy of Brazil

3006 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 238-2700 | Email: ambassador.dc@itamaraty.gov.br

No information available.

Ambassador

Dato Paduka

Haji Serbini bin Haji Ali

Embassy of Brunei Darussalam

3520 International Court NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 237-1838 | Email: info@bruneiembassy.org

Dato Paduka Haji Serbini bin Haji Ali has been Brunei’s ambassador to the US since 2016. Before this appointment, Serbini was ambassador to Belgium and permanent representative to the European Union from 2010 to 2016, with accreditation to the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Hungary.

Serbini joined his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1980 and served in Brunei’s diplomatic missions in Singapore, Thailand and Japan. He was also Brunei’s permanent representative to the United Nations (2001-02).

Serbini was appointed executive director of the APEC Secretariat in 2000, when the wealthy oil-exporting sultanate hosted the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting. He also served as permanent secretary of both the Ministry of Health (2004-08) and Home Affairs (2009-10). The ambassador did his primary and secondary education in Brunei, undergraduate studies in Britain, and post-graduate studies in the United States.

Serbini and his wife, Rafiah Arif, have four children. He enjoys golf and brisk walking.

Embassy of Bulgaria

1621 22nd Street, NW, Dimitar Peshev Plaza, Washington DC 20008

Tel: +1 202-682-1740 | Email: office@bulgaria-embassy.org

Georgi Velikov Panayotov became Bulgaria’s ambassador to the US in June 2022.

Born in 1968, Panayotov graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations with a master’s degree in politics. From 1995 to 2000, he was a political officer at the Bulgarian Embassy in Tirana, Albania. He then served as deputy head of multilateral cooperation in Foreign Ministry’s Southeastern European department.

From 2002 to 2007, Panayotov was deputy chief of mission at the Bulgarian Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. In 2010, he was named political officer and then deputy chief of mission at Bulgaria’s embassy in Washington.

Panayotov’s next assignment was head of NATO’s foreign affairs department (2014-16), and after that, he was Bulgaria’s permanent representative to the United Nations; he also served briefly as the country’s acting defense minister.

In addition to his native Bulgarian, Panayotov is fluent in English, Russian, German and Albanian. He has a master’s degree in politics from Moscow State Institute for International Relations. Panayotov is married with two children.

Vasil Levski

Bust in front of the Embassy of Bulgaria

Vasil Levski (1837 - 1873) is a national hero of Bulgaria who dedicated himself to freeing Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.

Located at 1621 22nd St NW, Washington, DC 20008

Chargé d’affaires

Boulmonli

Leonard Lombo

Embassy of Burkina Faso

2340 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 332-5577 | Email: ambawdc@verizon.net

Embassy of Burundi

2233 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Suite #408, Washington, DC 20007

Tel: +1 202 342-2574 | Email: burundiembusadc@gmail.com

Jean de Dieu Ndikumana, born in 1972, has been Burundi’s ambassador to the US since June 2021. Ndikumana earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Canada’s University of Ottawa, and a PhD in social science and international relations from Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy.

A longtime political science professor at the Burundi National School of Administration, Ndikumana represented Burundi in the East African Higher Education Quality Assurance Network (EAQAN), and was also a consultant to the African Union in the SOPSA project to assess the quality of water, education and health services for Burundi’s 12 million inhabitants.

From 2016 to 2018, Ndikumana was permanent secretary at Burundi’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in January 2021, he represented Burundi in the Eastern African Standby Force (EASF) mission to observe parliamentary and presidential elections in Uganda. In his spare time, Ndikumana enjoys reading, soccer, basketball and traveling.

Embassy of Cabo Verde

3415 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007 Tel: +1 202 965-6820 | Email: embassy@caboverdeus.net

Since October 2020, José Luis do Livramento Monteiro Alves de Brito has served as the Washington-based ambassador of Cabo Verde, a Portuguese-speaking group of 10 islands in the Atlantic—off the west coast of Africa—that’s home to around 550,000 people. He had spent the previous 24 years in various capacities with Cabo Verde Telecom, including chairman of the board, consultant and CEO.

Prior to that, Livramento served in various senior government positions, including as minister of education, science, culture and sports. The ambassador is also a researcher, having published papers on sustainable economy, privatization, human resources, economic regulations and broadband communications.

Livramento holds a degree in telecommunications and electrical engineering, as well as an MBA and a PhD in economy, all from Portugal’s Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. Fluent in Portuguese, French, English and Spanish, he is divorced and has eight children.

Ambassador

Keo Chhea

Embassy of Cambodia

4530 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20011

Tel: +1 202 726-7742 | Email: camemb.usa@mfaic.gov.kh

Keo Chhea, born in Cambodia’s Prey Veng province in 1956, is a career diplomat. Educated at India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he earned a bachelor of arts in English literature and linguistics, he also has a master’s degree in foreign affairs and trade from Australia’s Monash University, as well as a post-graduate diploma from the Indian Academy of International Law in New Delhi.

Joining Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979, Chhea served as a desk officer—and then a bureau chief—at the ministry from 1985 to 1992, then was first secretary at the Cambodian Embassy in India (1992-96); he had the same title at Cambodia’s embassy in Brunei Darussalam (2000-01), and for two years served as deputy director-general of ASIAN in charge of political and security cooperation.

Chhea headed the special programs division at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 2003 to 2009, and then the secretariat’s external relations division from 2009 to 2016. From 2017 until his present post, Chhea advised the Foreign Ministry on ASEAN affairs, with the rank of undersecretary of state.

Embassy of Cameroon

2349 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 265-8790 | Email: cs@cameroonembassyusa.org

Henri Etoundi Essomba, Cameroon’s ambassador to the US since June 2016, had originally planned to be a priest—not a diplomat. But after attending seminary school, the young man—who is fluent in French and English—lost interest and was eventually accepted into Cameroon’s Foreign Ministry.

Ambassador

Henri

Following postings as North American desk officer of North America affairs and overseas postings in France and Brazil, Essomba was sent to Tel Aviv in the early 1990s to set up an embassy in Israel. He ended up staying in the Jewish state for 22 years—becoming the dean of the Israeli diplomatic corps and raising his four children there with Esther, his wife. Essomba spent more time in the country than any other ambassador, before or since.

“I feel like an Israeli myself. I’ve been contaminated by the lack of patience,” he told the Jerusalem Post in a 2015 interview. “A lot of times I have to remind myself: You’re not an Israeli. You’re a Cameroonian.”

Embassy of Canada

501 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001 Tel: +1 202-682-1740 | Email: ccs.scc@international.gc.ca

Kirsten Hillman was appointed Canada’s ambassador to the US in March 2020. She’s the first woman ever to serve in this position.

As deputy ambassador from August 2017 to August 2019, Hillman was deeply involved in talks to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Before joining the embassy, Hillman was assistant deputy minister of the Trade Agreements and Negotiations Branch at Global Affairs Canada, overseeing all of Canada’s trade policy and trade talks. She also served as Canada’s chief negotiator for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

For many years, Hillman was senior trade counsel, representing Canada in NAFTA-related disputes. She was also senior legal advisor at Canada’s permanent mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva.

Before joining Global Affairs Canada, Hillman practiced law in Montréal and at the Department of Justice in Ottawa. Hillman grew up in Calgary and Winnipeg, and has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Manitoba, and a bachelor of common law from McGill University.

Ambassador

Martial Ndoubou

Embassy of Central African Republic

2704 Ontario Road NW, Washington, DC 20009

Tel: +1 202 483-7800 | Email: pc@usrcaembassy.org

Martial Ndoubou has represented the Central African Republic as ambassador to the United States since September 2018.

A career diplomat, Ndoubou graduated in public law with a specialization in international relations from the University of Bangui, then joined his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. He then served as chargé d’affaires at the CAR Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, from 2003 to 2006, and then as deputy chief of mission there from 2006 to 2012.

In 2012, Ndoubou became deputy chief of mission and vice-general consul at the CAR Embassy in Paris, where he remained for six years until his current appointment in Washington.

One of the world’s poorest countries, the landlocked CAR—which got independence from France in 1960—is today home to about five million people. It ranks second to last on the UN’s most recent Human Development Index, ahead of only neighboring Niger.

Embassy of Chad

2401 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 652-1312 | Email: info@chadembassy.us

Ngote Gali Koutou has been Chad’s ambassador to the US since 2018. Born in 1957 in Kyabe, he’s an administrator by training and has held several key positions in government since earning a degree in public law and graduating from Chad’s National School of Administration.

Ambassador Ngote Gali Koutou

Koutou began his public career as director of spatial and regional planning (1997-98), and was then promoted to secretary-general of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Cooperation (1999-2003). For the next six years, he was director of the Prime Minister’s Office (2003-09), then became deputy director of the president’s civil cabinet (2010-11), then deputy director-general of Chad’s state oil company, Société des Hydrocarbures du Tchad (2012-13).

After a year as director of the president’s civil cabinet (2014), he returned to the state oil company as director-general (2015-16). In addition, Koutou was national authorizing officer for Chad at the European Development Fund, and has served on the boards of Banque Commerciale du Chari, the state cotton entity (Cotonchad), the telecom firm Sotelchad and various other public entities.

Koutou, an army reserve officer, is married and has six children.