Presentation of Credentials, 30 May 2019

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

(a) The Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia
His Excellency Manuel Hernando Solano Sossa

(b) The Ambassador of the Republic of Iceland
Her Excellency Sigridur Asdis Snaevarr

(c) The Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
His Excellency Jean-Paul Senninger

Their bio summaries are attached.    

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE 
30 MAY 2019

MANUEL HERNANDO SOLANO SOSSA
AMBASSADOR TO SINGAPORE
COLOMBIA

Ambassador Manuel Hernando Solano Sossa was born in Boyaca, Colombia on 27 February 1965. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Law from the Externado University of Colombia in 1991. He obtained a Master's Degree in the analysis of economic, international, political and contemporary problems from the Externado University of Colombia in 1996.  Currently, he is a PhD candidate for International Relations at the Hankook University of Foreign Studies.

In Bogotá, Ambassador Solano served as the Executive Secretary of the Colombia National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (COLPECC), as well as the APEC, ASEAN and Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) Desk in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) from 2016 to 2018. Prior to this appointment, he served as Minister at the Embassy of Colombia in the Republic of Korea from 2010 to 2016, and as the Deputy Commissioner at Expo Yeosu in 2012. He worked on the Korea and Japan Desk in MOFA from 2008 to 2009. He also served as Counsellor at the Embassy of Colombia in the Republic of Korea from 2004 to 2007, and as Counsellor at the Embassy of Colombia in Sweden from 2002 to 2004.  Prior to this, he was the Visa Division Coordinator from 1999 to 2003 at the MOFA.  He took up the Vice Consul position at the Consulate of Colombia in Los Angeles from 1996 to 1999. From 1994 to 1995, Solano worked in the Legal Bureau of the MOFA.

Ambassador Solano has attended diplomatic training courses in Japan, India, and China covering topics including language, culture, foreign service, international relations, and foreign trade. He also attended the Comprehensive National Defense Course at the Colombian Superior War College in 2007.

Ambassador Solano is married and has two daughters.

[Photo Credit: Ministry of Communications and Information]

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SIGRÍDUR ÁSDÍS SNAEVARR
AMBASSADOR TO SINGAPORE
REPUBLIC OF ICELAND

Ambassador Sigrídur Ásdís Snaevarr is resident in Reykjavik, Iceland. She is presently the Director of the Department of Home-Based Ambassadors and Special Envoys at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 

A career diplomat for over 40 years, she was the first Icelandic woman to be appointed as an Ambassador in 1991, at the age of 38. 

Ambassador Snaevarr is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.  She is married and has one son.

[Photo Credit: Ministry of Communications and Information]

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JEAN-PAUL SENNINGER
AMBASSADOR TO SINGAPORE
GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG

Ambassador Jean-Paul Senninger will be accredited from Bangkok, Thailand. He has previously served as Ambassador to Turkey, Spain, the United States of America and the Holy See. He has also served as Secretary General of the Luxembourg Government as well as Secretary General in the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs. 

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Literature, Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, from the Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany), and a Masters in European Studies, from the Collège d’Europe, Bruges (Belgium).

[Photo Credit: Ministry of Communications and Information]

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