Presentation of Credentials, 14 February 2023

The following foreign Heads of Mission presented their credentials to President Halimah Yacob in separate ceremonies at the Istana today:

(a) The High Commissioner of New Zealand

        Her Excellency Gabrielle Anne Rush

(b) The Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines

        His Excellency Medardo Antonio Gonzales Macaraig

(c) The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

        His Excellency Samba Mamadou Ba

Their bio summaries are attached.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

14 FEBRUARY 2023

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HER EXCELLENCY GABRIELLE ANNE RUSH

HIGH COMMISSIONER TO SINGAPORE

NEW ZEALAND

High Commissioner Gabrielle Anne Rush has worked on international law and foreign and trade policy issues in the public and private sector since 1994. She led the Consular Division of the New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry from 2020 to 2022, and served as Acting Divisional Manager of the Ministry’s Legal Division in 2019. High Commissioner Rush has previously led both the General International and Trade Law units. She has also served as Deputy Director of the Ministry’s Americas Division and worked on United Nations, Commonwealth and human rights issues.

High Commissioner Rush’s diplomatic postings include a term as New Zealand’s Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macao from 2014 to 2017, Political Counsellor at the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing from 2013 to 2014, and a posting to the New Zealand High Commission in London in the 1990s.

Outside of the New Zealand government, High Commissioner Rush was Associate Director of the New Zealand International Business Forum and the New Zealand United States Council from 2007 to 2011.  She also helped establish the New Zealand China Council in 2012. She began her career as a Crown Prosecutor and has worked in the law faculty of the University of Hong Kong.

High Commissioner Rush holds a Master of Laws degree in Public International Law from the London School of Economics. She has two university-age children and is accompanied in Singapore by her partner, Clifford Hart.

All photos are credited to the Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

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HIS EXCELLENCY MEDARDO ANTONIO GONZALES MACARAIG

AMBASSADOR TO SINGAPORE

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

Ambassador Medardo Antonio G. Macaraig is a career diplomat with over thirty years of experience at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Prior to his assignment as Ambassador to Singapore, he was the Assistant Secretary for the DFA’s Office of Asset Management and Support Services.

Ambassador Macaraig has held various positions in Manila and abroad. He was previously Minister and Consul General at the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Consul General at the Philippine Consulate General in Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; and Second Secretary and Consul at the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa, Canada. At the DFA in Manila, he served as Senior Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for Administration; Executive Director of the Office of Personnel and Administrative Services; Acting Director of the Property, Maintenance and Transportation Division; and Conference Officer of the APEC-National Organizing Commission-Executive Committee. Prior to joining the DFA, he served at the Metropolitan Manila Commission (later renamed the Metropolitan Manila Authority).

Ambassador Macaraig obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. He is a widower and, with the late Teresa Roselyn Salvio Macaraig, has two daughters, Anna Patricia and Raissa Marie.

All photos are credited to the Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

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HIS EXCELLENCY SAMBA MAMADOU BA

AMBASSADOR TO SINGAPORE

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF MAURITANIA

Ambassador Samba Mamadou Ba is a career diplomat and the current Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to Japan, with concurrent accreditation to Singapore. He was previously Mauritania’s Ambassador to the United States from 2019 to 2021, and the Ambassador to Sudan and Central Africa (resident in Khartoum) from 2017 to 2018. 

Prior to his postings, Ambassador Ba was the Director of International Cooperation at the Mauritanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2017. Before joining the Mauritanian Foreign Service, Ambassador Ba was an Advisor to the General Commissioner for the Promotion of Private Investment from July 2007 to October 2007. 

Ambassador Ba holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Diplomacy from Ohio State University, United States, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Civilization from the University of Nouakchott, Mauritania. 

All photos are credited to the Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

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