TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Phillips-Spencer

Embassy of Trinidad & Tobago

1708 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

Tel: +1 202 467-6490 | Email: embdcinfo@foreign.gov.tt

Brig. Gen. Anthony Phillips-Spencer became Trinidad & Tobago’s ambassador to the US in 2016, some 12 years after he was first sent to Washington as the embassy’s defense attaché. While there, he forged strong ties with the Delaware National Guard.

In 1981, Phillips-Spencer enlisted in his country’s defense force, and in 1992, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, later returning to UWI, where he obtained a master’s in international relations in 2011. His thesis was “Drug Policy Formulation in the Caribbean: 1982-2010.”

Phillips-Spencer spent much of his career working closely with Trinidad’s presidents, primarily A.N.R. Robinson and George Maxwell Richards.

In 2011, he became commanding officer of the army, and in 2013 vice-chief of the defense force. He was thought to be in line to become chief; however, when the incumbent chief retired, Phillips-Spencer was passed over. A few months later, he was sent to Washington as ambassador.

Phillips-Spencer speaks English, French and Spanish.

Embassy of Tunisia

1515 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005

Tel: +1 202 862-1850 | Email: AT.Washington@Tunisianembassy.org

Hanène Tajouri Bessassi, born in 1972, was appointed Tunisia’s envoy to the US in October 2021 by President Kais Saied, weeks after he dismissed her predecessor without explanation. A career diplomat, Tajouri Bessassi earned a master’s degree in law in 1995 from the Faculté des Sciences juridiques, politiques et sociales de Tunis (FSJPS), and a graduate diploma in 1998 from Tunisia’s National School of Administration (ENA).

Her first posting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tajouri Bessassi was put in charge of Tunisia’s relationship with Germany (1998-2000), then became head of the division managing Tunisia’s ties with the EU (2000-05). From 2005 to 2010, she was deputy chief of mission at the Tunisian Embassy in Portugal.

Her next position was deputy director in charge of the Tunisia-EU relationship (2010-13), then as head of congressional affairs and later deputy chief of mission at the Tunisian Embassy in Washington (2013-18). She also spent one year as Tunisia’s ambassador to Germany (2020-21). Married with three children, the new ambassador speaks fluent Arabic, French and English, and has basic knowledge of German and Portuguese.