Appointment Of High Commissioner To The United Kingdom, Ambassador To The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Ambassador To The Republic Of Turkey, Ambassador To The State Of Qatar, And High Commissioner To New Zealand

The Government has appointed Mr Ng Teck Hean as the next Singapore High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mr S Premjith as the next Singapore Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ms Kok Li Peng as the next Singapore Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, Mr Wong Chow Ming as the next Singapore Ambassador to the State of Qatar, and Mr William Tan Wei Yuan as the next Singapore High Commissioner to New Zealand.

Mr Ng is currently Deputy Secretary (Asia Pacific), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), a position he has held since April 2016. He was concurrently Deputy Secretary (Southeast Asia) from September 2019 to August 2022. Mr Ng also served as the Senior Official of Singapore to the Arctic Council and the Asia-Europe Meeting. Prior to this, he was Singapore’s Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 2012 to 2016.

Mr Ng served as First Secretary (Political) at the Singapore Embassy in Washington from 1995 to 1998, and Deputy High Commissioner at the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur from 2003 to 2006. He was Director of the Americas Directorate from 2007 to 2010 and the Southeast Asia Directorate from 2010 to 2012. He was appointed Special Assistant to then Minister for Foreign Affairs Professor S Jayakumar from 2001 to 2002.

Mr Ng graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Victoria University of Wellington in 1991. He obtained a Master in International Public Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, United States of America in 2001.

Mr Ng was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2003, the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2013, and the Long Service Medal in 2015. He was conferred the Vietnam Order of Friendship by the President of Vietnam, His Excellency Truong Tan Sang, in 2016 for his contributions to bilateral relations between both countries. He is married to Madam Lynn Mok and they have two children.

Mr Premjith was Singapore’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2019 to 2023. Prior to this, he was Singapore’s Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt, with concurrent accreditation to the State of Libya, from 2013 to 2019. He was also Singapore’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia from 2010 to 2013.

Since joining MFA in 1994, Mr Premjith has served in various capacities on issues related to International Economics, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. He was Director of the South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa Directorate from 2005 to 2010. He also served as First Secretary (Political) at the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta from 1997 to 2001.

Mr Premjith graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from Murdoch University, Australia, in 1994. He obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in World Trade Policy from the World Trade Organisation in 1995. He also received a Master of Philosophy from University of Cambridge, United Kingdom in 2002, under the joint Raffles-Chevening Scholarship.

Mr Premjith was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2022, and the Long Service Medal in 2017. He is married to Madam Libby Sang.

Ms Kok was Singapore’s Permanent Representative to ASEAN from 2019 to 2023. Prior to this, she was Singapore’s Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines from 2015 to 2018.

Since joining MFA in 1995, Ms Kok has served as Deputy Permanent Representative at the Singapore Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2008 to 2012, and First Secretary (Political) at the Singapore Embassy in Washington from 1999 to 2002. She was Director-General of the ASEAN Directorate from 2012 to 2015. She also previously served in various capacities on issues related to International Organisations and Southeast Asia.

Ms Kok graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the National University of Singapore in 1994. She obtained a Master of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University, United States of America in 2006 under the Fulbright Scholarship.

Ms Kok was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2008 and the Long Service Medal in 2021.

Mr Wong was Singapore’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Bahrain, from 2019 to 2023. Prior to this, he was Director-General of the International Economics Directorate from 2012 to 2019. He was also Director/Special Duties (Energy) from January to July 2012.

Since joining MFA in 1996, Mr Wong has served in various capacities on issues related to Southeast Asia and ASEAN. He was also Counsellor (Political) at the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta from 2001 to 2004 and Deputy High Commissioner at the Singapore High Commission in New Delhi from 2008 to 2011.

  Mr Wong graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the National University of Singapore in 1990. He obtained a Master of Science in Strategic Studies from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 1999.

Mr Wong was awarded the Long Service Medal in 2014. He is married to Madam Christine Wong and they have four sons.

Mr Tan was the Director-General of the Technical Co-operation Directorate, MFA from 2019 to 2023.

          Since joining the Ministry in 1997, Mr Tan has served in various capacities on issues covering Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, ASEAN, South Asia and Africa. He served as First Secretary (Political) at the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta from 2001 to 2005, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok from 2009 to 2012, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo from 2012 to 2016.

Mr Tan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, United States of America in 1995. He received a Master in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, United States of America in 2006.

Mr Tan was awarded the Long Service Medal in 2020. He is married to Madam Lisa Yong and they have two daughters.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

29 AUGUST 2023

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore

Photo Credit : Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore