BRIGADIER GENERAL THADDEUS KOSCIUSZKO

Thaddeus Kosciuszko was a Polish general and military hero who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He is considered a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and the United States.

1701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite #200, Washington, DC 20006

Tel: +1 202 349-8598 | Email: info@palauembassy.org

Hersey Kyota, who’s been Palau’s ambassador to the US since 1997, is the dean of the Washington diplomatic corps. He assumed that largely ceremonial title in 2015 upon the death of Djibouti’s ambassador, Roble Olhaye.

Palau, a Pacific chain of 340 islands, is home to about 18,000 people. A presidential republic in free association with the United States, its legislative power is concentrated in the bicameral Palau National Congress, where Kyota served as a senator from 1990 to 1996. He was also on the board of directors for the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures (1992-96).

Ambassador Hersey Kyota

Prior to his position as a senator, Kyota worked as a legal researcher (1981-84) and then chief clerk (1985-88) for the House of Delegates, followed by the director’s position at the House Legal Counsel’s Office (1989-90).

Born in 1953, Kyota earned a bachelor’s degree in 1977 and a master’s in 1979, both from United States International University in San Diego. In 2000, the ambassador chaired Palau’s delegation to the UN during the Millennium Summit. He and his wife have six children.

Embassy of Panama

2862 McGill Terrace NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 483-1407 | Email: info@embassyofpanama.org

Corporate attorney Ramón Eduardo Martínez de la Guardia presented his credentials in September 2022 as Panama’s ambassador to the US, following his appointment to the job by President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen.

Martínez graduated from Colegio Javier in 1994, obtained a bachelor’s degree in law and political science from Panama’s Universidad Católica Santa María la Antigua (2000) and later a master’s in corporate law from the University of Minnesota Law School (2002).

Martínez has 17 years of experience in commercial and corporate law, advising local and foreign companies in the areas of retail and wholesale trade, free zones, international branding, real estate and finance. Before his current position, Martínez served as Panama’s minister of commerce and industry.

In a recent interview, Martínez said his chief priorities as ambassador would be to remove Panama from the US Financial Action Task Force’s so-called “gray list” of tax havens and promote his country as a manufacturing hub, while working with Washington on key issues such as climate change and illegal immigration.

Philippines

Embassy of Papua New Guinea

1825 K Street NW, Suite #1010, Washington, DC 20006

Tel: +1 202 745-3680 | Email: info@pngembassy.org

Chargé d’affaires

Cephas Kayo

Ambassador José Antonio Dos Santos

Chargé d’affaires Irving

Embassy of Paraguay

2209 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 483-6960 | Email: eeuuembaparsc@mre.gov.py

José Antonio Dos Santos, born in 1964, was appointed Paraguay’s ambassador to the US in June 2021. Before his current post, he was Paraguay’s vice minister of foreign affairs (2019-21).

A career diplomat, Dos Santos joined the Foreign Ministry in 1992 as a legal advisor to the vice minister and has held several positions there, including director-general of consular affairs (1999-2001); vice minister (2006-09); director-general of multilateral policy (2015-19). His overseas postings include those of consul general in New York (1993-97); chargé d’affaires at Paraguay’s embassy in Ottawa, Canada (1997-98); consul general in Los Angeles (2002-06); and permanent representative at the United Nations in New York (200914), where he chaired the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries.

Dos Santos has a law degree from the National University of Asunción and a master’s degree in international law from Washington’s American University. Fluent in Spanish and English, he is married with two children.

Embassy of Peru

1700 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

Tel: +1 202 833-9860 | Email: webadmin@embassyofperu.us

Embassy of the Philippines

1600 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

Tel: +1 202 467-9300 | Email: admin@phembassy-us.org

José Manuel “Babe” del Gallego Romualdez has been ambassador of the Philippines to the US since 2017. Before that, Romualdez was a special envoy of the Philippine president to the United States.

A Manila native, Romualdez earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from De La Salle College in 1970. Among other things, he was CEO of Stargate Media Corp. and publisher of People Asia magazine, an affiliate of the Philippine Star, for which he still writes columns. He was also president of the Manila Overseas Press Club and vicepresident of the Rotary Club of Manila, and is an avid golfer.

On Nov. 29, 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte conferred the Order of Sikatuna, with the rank of Datu (Grand Cross), Gold Distinction on Romualdez for strengthening longstanding bilateral ties, for deepening the US-Philippine economic relationship, and specifically for procuring 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna.

Ambassador Marek Magierowski

Embassy of Poland

2640 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009

Tel: +1 202 499-1700 | Email: washington.amb.sekretariat@msz.gov.pl

Marek Magierowski, born in 1971, is Poland’s new ambassador to the US, replacing Piotr Wilczek. Magierowski graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan with a degree in Hispanic studies. He worked as a reporter, editor and columnist for over 20 years and was deputy head of the economic desk at Gazeta Wyborcza, head of the foreign affairs desk and the business section at Newsweek Polska, and deputy editor-in-chief of Forum.

From 2006 to 2011, Magierowski was deputy editor-in-chief of Rzeczpospolita, and regularly wrote columns on foreign policy for the Uważam Rze and Do Rzeczy weeklies.

In October 2015, Magierowski left journalism to work for the chancellery of the president as an expert on public diplomacy, and was subsequently appointed head of the chancellery’s press office.

From June 2017 to May 2018, Magierowski served as undersecretary of state at the Foreign Ministry, and Poland’s ambassador to Israel from June 2018 to November 2021.

Embassy of Portugal

2012 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

Tel: +1 202 350-5400 | Email: info.washington@mne.pt

Francisco António Duarte Lopes is Portugal’s new ambassador to the United States, replacing Domingos Fezas Vital, who had served in Washington since 2015.

Born in Castelo Branco, Portugal, Duarte Lopes holds a law degree from the Faculdade de Direito de Lisboa. He began his professional service as an attaché in the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Section in 1989, before being posted to Pakistan (1993-95) and later to Portugal’s embassy in Denmark as chargé d’affaires (1995-2000).

He headed the ministry’s human resources unit (2000-02), was advisor to Portugal’s secretary of state for European affairs (2002-03), and then became director for institutional affairs at the Foreign Ministry (2003-04). From 2005 to 2009, Duarte Lopes coordinated Portugal’s mission to the EU in Brussels, later becoming diplomatic advisor to the prime minister (2009-11).

From 2012 to 2015, Duarte Lopes held various positions at the Foreign Ministry and was finally promoted to the rank of ambassador in 2015. He served as Portugal’s permanent representative to the UN in New York (2017-22) before assuming his current position.

Embassy of Qatar

2555 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20037 Tel: +1 202 274-1600 | Email: info.dc@mofa.gov.qa

Qatar’s ambassador to the US, Meshal bin Hamad Al-Thani, assumed his post in 2016. Before that, he was Qatar’s top envoy to France for three years.

Al-Thani began his diplomatic career in 1997 with the Foreign Ministry’s Department of European and American Affairs. He served at Qatar’s mission to the UN in New York (19982000) and at its embassy in Washington (2000-04), later becoming the Qatari liaison to NATO as a member of his country’s diplomatic mission in Brussels (2004-07).

From 2007 to 2011, Al-Thani was Qatar’s ambassador to Belgium, concurrently chairing the wealthy oil and gas-rich emirate’s mission to the European Union. A career member of Qatar’s Senior Foreign Service since 2009, Al-Thani served as Qatari permanent representative to the UN in New York from 2011 to 2013.

Al-Thani received his master’s in international relations from American University in 2004. He is married with three children.

Ambassador

Andrei Muraru

Embassy of Romania

1607 23rd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 332-4829 | Email: washington@mae.ro

Andrei Muraru, Romania’s ambassador to the US since July 2021, was born in 1982 and earned his BA, MA and PhD—all in history—from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași. For eight years, Muraru worked at the state-run Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER), rising to executive president. In 2014, he began advising the head of Romania’s National Liberal Party, Klaus Iohannis; after Iohannis became president, Muraru remained as his senior advisor until moving to Washington.

Muraru was an Erasmus-Socrates student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (2004-05), as well as a doctoral fellow at both New Europe College (2009-10) and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (2010-11). In 2020, he also received a postdoctoral fellowship at Israel’s Yad Vashem International Institute for Holocaust Research.

A prolific writer, Muraru is the author of “Vișinescu, the Forgotten Torturer” (2018), and has co-authored many other works about Romania’s communist past.

Embassy of Russia

2650 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007

Tel: +1 202 298-5700 | Email: rusembusa@mid.ru

Anatoly I. Antonov, born in 1955 in Omsk, is Russia’s ambassador in Washington.

In 1978, Antonov—who has a PhD in political science—graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was then named to various positions within the ministry and its foreign missions, including ambassador-at-large (2002-04); director of the ministry’s Department of Security and Disarmament, and member of the Russian Foreign Ministry Board (2004-11), and Russia’s deputy minister of defense (2011-16).

Ambassador

Anatoly I. Antonov

Antonov served briefly as Russia’s deputy foreign minister (2016-17), an appointment that ended when Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an executive order in August 2017 naming him ambassador to the United States.

Yet in the four years since his appointment, the US has expelled 300 Russian diplomats and their family members as bilateral relations have grown increasingly tense. In late January 2022, Antonov told journalists that he’d have to leave imminently if the situation does not improve.

Embassy of Rwanda

1714 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009

Tel: +1 202 232-2882 | Email: info@rwandaembassy.org

Mathilde Mukantabana has represented Rwanda as ambassador in Washington since July 2013. Before that, she was a tenured history professor at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, Calif. She is also co-founder and president of the Friends of Rwanda Association (FORA), a nonprofit created to support survivors of the 1994 genocide against her country’s ethnic Tutsis.

Fluent in English, French, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi, Mukantabana holds a bachelor’s degree in history and geography from the University of Burundi, as well as master’s degrees in social work and history from California State University in Sacramento.

In 1999, Mukantabana started the academic program of social work at the National University of Rwanda, and taught a variety of subjects there as an invited lecturer. She’s a board member of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies program at California’s Sonoma State University and belongs to many nonprofits include the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) and the Organization of African Leaders in Diaspora (OALD).

Gaylene Gilchrist

Embassy of St. Kitts & Nevis

1203 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

Tel: +1 202 686-2636 | Email: stkittsnevis@embskn.com

Thelma Phillip-Browne is the US ambassador of 104-square-mile St. Kitts & Nevis, with 54,000 inhabitants the smallest independent nation in the Western Hemisphere.

One of eight siblings, Phillip-Browne graduated in 1978 with a medical degree from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. She also has a diploma in dermatology science from the Cardiff University School of Medicine in Wales, and she did public health training at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

From 1994 until her appointment in Washington, Phillip-Browne ran a private dermatology clinic, serving also during that time as the country’s chief medical officer.

In 2011, Phillip-Browne obtained a master’s degree in theology from Indiana’s Anderson University. A lay preacher and member of the Women of the Church of God, she has also partnered with the local chapter of Child Evangelism Fellowship and has hosted a morning devotional program on WINN-FM in St. Kitts.

Phillip-Browne, also an athlete who represented St. Kitts in netball for many years, has two daughters, a son and two granddaughters.

Embassy of St. Lucia

1629 K Street NW, Suite #1250, Washington, DC 20006

Tel: +1 202 364-6792 | Email: embassydc@gosl.gov.lc

Elizabeth Darius-Clarke is back in Washington for a second stint as ambassador of St. Lucia; the first time she represented her Caribbean island nation of 180,000 here was from 2015 to 2016. The ambassador’s diplomatic career began in 2012 when she joined the embassy as St. Lucia’s alternate representative to the Organization of American States and as minister-counselor.

Darius-Clarke has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and law from the University of the West Indies, a master’s in human resource development from England’s University of Manchester, and an MBA from England’s University of Durham.

In her previous career, Darius-Clarke spent 21 years in the education sector, preparing highschool students for their Caribbean Examination Council exams in biology and social studies. From 2009 to 2012, she also lectured undergraduate students at Monroe College, and was also a human resource consultant for groups such as the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corp. and the St. Lucia Water & Sewerage Co.

Embassy of St. Vincent & the Grenadines

1627 K Street NW, Suite #1202, Washington, DC 20006 Tel: +1 202 364-6730 | Email: mail@embsvg.com

Lou-Anne Gaylene Gilchrist is the Washington-based ambassador of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, with 110,000 inhabitants one of the smallest nations in the Western Hemisphere. Gilchrist earned a bachelor’s degree in modern languages from the University of the West Indies in Barbados, as well as a master’s degree in translation studies from England’s University of Warwick. She then spent over 20 years teaching and lecturing at St. Vincent & the Grenadines Community College.

Before becoming ambassador, Gilchrist—a former Girl Guide—spent seven years as St. Vincent’s chief education officer, from 2009 to 2016, where she focused on “providing inclusive, quality education for all.”

As ambassador in Washington, Gilchrist’s priority issues are sustainable development, climate change, democracy and governance, multidimensional security and the protection of human rights. She also hopes to “further the development of partnerships for trade, education, employment, immigration and other important issues aimed at enhancing the quality of life of Vincentians.”

Saudi Arabia

Ambassador

Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud

Embassy of Saudi Arabia

601 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037

Tel: +1 202 342-3800 | Email: info.was@mofa.gov.sa

Daughter of an ambassador. CEO of a major corporation. Head of a multisports federation. Princess. Mother. Leading global thinker, according to Foreign Policy magazine.

And now, Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s top envoy to the US since 2019, is the first woman in Saudi history to achieve the rank of ambassador.

Bandar was born in Riyadh in 1975, a few months after her grandfather, Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal, was assassinated by his own nephew, Faisal bin Musaid. She came to the US at age 7, growing up in Fairfax County, Virginia, while her father, Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, served as Saudi ambassador.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in museum studies from George Washington University, Bandar returned to Saudi Arabia, where she co-founded Yibreen, a women’s gym, and later became CEO of Alfa International Co. In 2016, she took on a new role as vicepresident of women’s affairs for the Saudi General Sports Authority.

In a recent webinar, Bandar said her goal is “to unlock our nation’s untapped potential, uplifting our people and opening the country to the world socially, economically and culturally.”

Embassy of Senegal

2215 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20037

Tel: +1 202 234-0540 | Email: contact@ambasenegal-us.org

Mansour Kane, Senegal’s ambassador to the US since December 2019, is also accredited to 11 Latin American countries. Before assuming his current post in Washington, he was Senegalese minister of petroleum and energy (2017-19) as well as minister of infrastructure and transportation (2014-17).

Prior to joining the government, Kane worked at the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) in Washington for 13 years in finance, telecom, energy, mining and manufacturing services, with regional responsibility for Africa and the Middle East. And before that, he spent seven years with Citibank in financial engineering and structuring.

Kane began his career in the mining industry as a process engineer at Senegalese Taïba Phosphates, and as a research and development engineer at Canada’s Rouyan Noranda Gold Mining. The ambassador holds a master’s degree in mining engineering from Canada’s Laval University and an MBA from Arizona’s Thunderbird School of Global Management.

SERBIA Ambassador

Marko Djuric

Embassy of Serbia

1333 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20036

Tel: +1 202 332-0333 | Email: info@serbiaembusa.org

Marko Djuric, Serbia’s ambassador to the US since January 2020, was born and raised in Belgrade. He also lived for a time in Israel; his maternal grandmother was interned in Auschwitz and was among the few members of her family to survive the Holocaust.

Djuric’s great-grand uncle was Nikola Pašić, prime minister of both Serbia and Yugoslavia in the early 20th century. Djuric is also vice-president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), whose 750,000 members make it Europe’s largest political party by membership.

A law graduate of the University of Belgrade, Djuric rose through the ranks of the SNS—which he co-founded in 2008—and in 2016 became deputy chairman of the party’s main board.

From 2014 to 2020, Djuric directed Serbia’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija. As such, he headed negotiations in Brussels with representatives of Kosovo, as well as Serbia’s efforts to join the EU. Djuric said his priority as ambassador is to “increase the level of trust” between Washington and Belgrade. Djuric and his wife, Andrijana, have three daughters. He’s fluent in English and Hebrew.

Embassy of Sierra Leone

1701 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009

Tel: +1 202 939-9261 | Email: info@embassyofsierraleone.net

Sidique Abou-Bakarr Wai, Sierra Leone’s ambassador to the US since February 2019, has a unique claim to fame. As an advisor to the New York Police Department, he initiated the NYPD’s body camera program in 2012—a move that reduced crime while boosting trust between the department’s 40,000 uniformed cops and the city’s 8.5 million residents.

He also organized the first public safety meeting between NYPD top brass and African ambassadors accredited to the United Nations.

Ambassador

Sidique AbouBakarr Wai

Wai earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and pre-law from New York’s Fordham University in 1977, later pursuing graduate studies at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.

As former president of the United African Congress and a longtime African diaspora leader, Wai applied behind-the-scenes pressure during Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war that forced rebels to release several high-profile captives. And during the 2013-16 Ebola epidemic, he got donors at the UN to pledge $1 billion for Sierra Leone’s post-Ebola recovery.

In September 2018, Wai hosted Sierra Leone’s First Investment Forum in New York, an event attended by numerous dignitaries including President Julius Maada Bio.

Nelson Mandela

Embassy of South Africa

Nelson Mandela (1918 - 2013) led South Africa’s struggle against apartheid. The country’s first black president, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Ambassador

Ashok Kumar

Mirpuri

Embassy of Singapore

3501 International Place NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 537-3100 | Email: singemb_was@mfa.sg

Ashok Kumar Mirpuri has been Singapore’s ambassador to the US since 2012. Before that, he was ambassador to Indonesia (2006-12), high commissioner to Malaysia (2002-06) and high commissioner to Australia (2000-02).

A career diplomat, Mirpuri joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1984, and in 1994 was appointed director of the MFA’s Policy Planning & Analysis Directorate I (Southeast Asia).

In 1997, Mirpuri was seconded to Shell International in Britain as a corporate advisor for the AsiaPacific region. The following year, he was assigned to Singapore’s embassy in Jakarta as ministercounselor and deputy chief of mission, having previously served in Jakarta as a first secretary.

Mirpuri graduated with an honors degree from the National University of Singapore. He did his master’s degree at the University of London’s School of Oriental & African Studies under a Raffles scholarship. He also attended the Programme for Executive Development at Switzerland’s Institute for Management Development, as well as Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Embassy of Slovakia

3523 International Court NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 237-1054 | Email: emb.washington@mzv.sk

Radovan Javorčik, Slovakia’s ambassador to the US since January 2021, has been a foreign service officer since 1995.

After graduating from the Slovak Technical University and Comenius University’s Institute of International Relations in Bratislava, he joined the Office of the President in the press, and later, the foreign policy department.

Ambassador

Radovan Javorčik

At the Slovak Foreign Ministry, Javorčik was deputy director of the Policy Planning Department. After his posting at the Slovak permanent mission to NATO (1998-2002), he continued to work on NATO files as a team leader and later as deputy director for security policy, where he helped prepare Slovakia for NATO membership.

His next posting was at the Slovak Embassy in London (2005-09); he then supervised North American and Mideast affairs, becoming Slovakia’s ambassador to Israel (2011-15). He returned to Brussels in 2017 as Slovakia’s envoy to Belgium and permanent representative to NATO. Javorčík and his wife, fellow diplomat Michelle Joanne Javorčíková, have two sons. He speaks fluent English, Czech and Russian, and understands French, German and Spanish.

Embassy of Slovenia

2410 California Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 Tel: +1 202 386-6601 | Email: sloembassy.washington@gov.si

Tone Kajzer, born in 1966 in the town of Mežica, is Slovenia’s ambassador to the US. In 1995, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was assigned to the Slovenian Embassy in Egypt. Upon his return in 2000, he served as deputy national coordinator for development cooperation. As head of the Croatia department, he helped resolve outstanding issues between the two former Yugoslav republics.

In 2008, he was appointed ambassador to Finland, with accreditation to Estonia. He returned in 2012 as state secretary in the prime minister’s office, with a focus on foreign policy and economic issues.

Kajzer was Slovenia’s ambassador to Denmark (2013-18), with non-resident responsibility for Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and—for a time—Estonia and Lithuania as well. Kajzer has authored several contributions on international relations. He likes good books and all sports, especially running and golf. He and his wife, Milena, have two daughters.

Ambassador

Ali Sharif Ahmed

Embassy of Somalia

1609 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 853-9164 | Email: info@somaliembassydc.net

Ali Sharif Ahmed, Somalia’s ambassador to the US since September 2019, was formerly the top Somali envoy to Ethiopia and France. He also served as Somalia’s permanent representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

Prior to his diplomatic service, Ahmed was the senior policy advisor to the Office of the President and vice-chairman to Somalia’s secretary of foreign affairs. In this capacity, he was responsible for overall policy and led peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts on behalf of the government of Somalia—an impoverished nation of 16 million that’s been locked in civil war since the late 1980s.

In addition to his public sector experience, Ahmed was a business executive, entrepreneur and consultant for firms with global operations. Ahmed holds a bachelor’s degree in peace and conflict studies from London Metropolitan University, and a master’s in geopolitics and grand strategy from England’s University of Sussex.

Embassy of South Africa

3051 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 232-4400 | Email: TwalaM@dirco.gov.za

Nomaindiya Cathleen Mfeketo has been South Africa’s ambassador to the US for nearly three years—and since her first day, the COVID-19 pandemic has seemed to dominated her job.

The longtime politician—the first black woman to win election as mayor of her native Cape Town—departed for Washington on March 12, 2020. The next day, South Africa went into an extended lockdown as countries worldwide confronted the frightening new contagion.

More recently, Mfeketo found herself defending South Africa in the face of a widespread travel ban spurred by the Omicron variant.

Mfeketo, an anti-apartheid activist since the age of 23, served as the deputy speaker of South Africa’s fourth parliament, and since 2007 has been a member of the national executive committee of the ruling African National Congress. She was also South Africa’s deputy minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (2014-18), and minister of human settlements (2018-19).

Since her country became a democracy in 1994, said Mfeketo, it has strived to “deepen and broaden its relationship” with the US in trade, investment, tourism, technology, education, environmental and health issues.

Embassy of South Sudan

1015 31st Street NW, 3rd Floor, Suite #300, Washington, DC 20007

Tel: +1 202 600-2238 | Email: info.ssdembassy@gmail.com

Phillip Jada Natana replaced Garang Diing Akuong as South Sudan’s ambassador to the United States in August 2018—seven years after South Sudan’s establishment as Africa’s newest independent nation.

Natana was formerly South Sudan’s ambassador to South Africa and Eritrea.

Ambassador

Santiago Cabanas

Ansorena

Embassy of Spain

2375 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037

Tel: +1 202 452-0100 | Email: emb.washington@maec.es

Santiago Cabanas Ansorena, Spain’s ambassador to the US since September 2018, was born in Madrid in 1954. He holds a law degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and joined the Spanish Foreign Service in 1981.

Before coming to Washington, Cabanas was Spain’s envoy to Algeria (2017-18). Prior to that, he held top-ranking positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including director of the minister’s cabinet and director-general for foreign policy. Cabanas has also been directorgeneral for consular affairs as well as for cultural and scientific relations.

Earlier in his career, Cabanas was Spain’s ambassador to the Czech Republic and to Jordan. He was also a political counselor at the embassy in Washington, and Spain’s consulgeneral in Miami.

In his office, Cabanas keeps a statue of Bernardo de Gálvez, a Spanish military leader who served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana. Gálvez was awarded honorary US citizenship thanks to his contributions to the Revolutionary War. The ambassador’s two favorite pastimes are hiking and reading, and Cervantes is among his favorite authors.

Embassy of Sri Lanka

3025 Whitehaven Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 483-4025 | Email: slembassy@slembassyusa.org

Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka’s new ambassador to the US, has nearly 40 years of public service under his belt as a diplomat, legislator and cabinet minister.

He graduated with an honors degree in economics from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia; his first overseas posting was at the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canberra, Australia. Later, Samarasinghe was assigned to Sri Lanka’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva, where he also represented his country at the World Health Organization (WHO),

Ambassador

Mahinda

Samarasinghe

In 1994, Samarasinghe was elected to Parliament representing Kalutara district. Over his 27-year legislative career, he headed various portfolios including employment and labor (2001-04); disaster management and human rights (2006-10); plantation industries (201015); finance (2015); skills development and vocational training (2015-17); ports and shipping (2017-19) and public administration and home affairs (2019-20).

Samarasinghe only resigned his position to take up his current assignment in Washington.

Embassy of Sudan

2210 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 (202) 338-8565 | Email: consular@sudanembassy.org

Mohamed Idris, Sudan’s ambassador to the United States, was born in the town of Abu Gubeiha. Besides his native Arabic, the married father of four is also fluent in English, Hausa and Kiswahili.

He earned a diploma of international relations from the University of Khartoum (1995) and a master of arts in peace and development studies from Juba University (2010).

Idris represented the Sudanese government in peace talks with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement from 1999 to 2003. He was also a delegate to several African Union meetings.

As a diplomat, Idris was deputy permanent representative to the League of Arab States in Cairo (2003-07) and later headed the league’s mission in Mogadishu, Somalia (2010-17). From 2008 to 2018, he held many positions within Sudan’s Foreign Ministry and served as Sudan’s ambassador to Britain from 2019 to 2021, prior to his current appointment in Washington.

Ambassador

Jan Marten

Willem Schalkwijk

Embassy of Suriname

4201 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite #400, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 629-4302 | Email: amb.vs@gov.sr

J. Marten W. Schalkwijk, appointed earlier this year as Suriname’s ambassador to the United States, studied politics and geography at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica; he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology from the University of Suriname, and a PhD in sociology from Cornell.

Schalkwijk began his career at the Suriname’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1981-89), where he headed its European Department and later its Bilateral Economic Department. He was heavily involved in talks on the Lomé Convention and was part of the former Dutch colony’s transition team from military rule to democracy in 1987.

After completing his PhD in 1993, Schalkwijk returned to Suriname to head the Anton de Kom University’s Institute for Social Science Research; he was later director of the school’s Institute for Graduate Studies and Research, which he led for 10 years. An expert on science, technology and innovation, from 2013 to 2016 he chaired the International Society on Biodiversity of the Guiana Shield.

Prior to his current post, Schalkwijk advised Suriname’s president and its minister of finance and planning.

Embassy of Sweden

2900 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20007

Tel: +1 202 467-2600 | Email: ambassaden.washington@gov.se

Karin Ulrika Olofsdotter, born in 1966, became Sweden’s first female ambassador to the US in September 2017.

As a teen, her favorite movie was Grease, her favorite band was Vangelis and her favorite hobby was golf. She spent a year as an exchange student in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., and worked as a bartender in New Zealand for six months in her early 20s.

Ambassador