MFA Press Statement: Presentation of Credentials Ceremony, 22 December 2016

The High Commissioner of the Republic of Malta presents his credentials to President Tony Tan Keng Yam. [Photo: MCI]

The Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba presents his credentials to President Tony Tan Keng Yam. [Photos: MCI]

The Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia presents his credentials to President Tony Tan Keng Yam. [Photos: MCI]

                The following foreign Heads of Mission presented their credentials to President Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam in separate ceremonies at the Istana today:

(a)     The High Commissioner of the Republic of Malta

His Excellency Clifford Borg-Marks

(b)     The Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba

His Excellency Fredesmán Turró González

(c)      The Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia

His Excellency Slobodan Marinkovic

                Their bio summaries are attached.   

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE 

22 DECEMBER 2016

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REPUBLIC OF MALTA

                The new non-resident High Commissioner for Malta to Singapore, Clifford Borg-Marks, was Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China in 2013-2015, and has also served his country as non-resident Ambassador to Mongolia, the Philippines and Thailand. In the 1980s, he also served as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim and as Acting High Commissioner in Beijing and Canberra respectively. In December 2016, he was made a Member of the National Order of Merit of the Republic of Malta.

                High Commissioner Borg-Marks is fluent in Mandarin which he started learning at UWC Atlantic College in the UK as a teenager. He then went on to study at Peking University and graduated in Chinese literature in 1982. He subsequently studied Chinese Law at the University of East Asia and South Pacific legal systems at the University of the South Pacific.

                In 1990, he started his legal career with Baker & McKenzie in Hong Kong where he helped established a successful and pioneering China intellectual property practice. He is a retired partner of the firm and continues to serve as a consultant in the firm’s IP Group. He has published and spoken widely in his field, and was a Guest Professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in 2013-2015.

                High Commissioner Borg-Marks has also produced and directed award-winning documentaries and movies remain a major interest.

                The High Commissioner is married to Ms. Fan Jin, originally from Beijing.

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REPUBLIC OF CUBA

                Fredesmán Turró González was born on 27 June 1949 in the province of Villa Clara, Cuba. He studied at the University of Hanoi, in the Vietnamese Language and Culture Faculty, where he graduated with a degree in Philology and Vietnamese language. He also studied at the Higher Institute of International Relations of Cuba.

                He is a career diplomat. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to Singapore, he served as Director of the Personnel Division and was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

                In the Foreign Service he has worked in numerous positions, from Diplomatic Attaché to Ambassador.  He has spent most of his diplomatic career in Asia, as Ambassador in Cambodia, from 1992 to 1996 and in Vietnam on two occasions, from 1999 to 2004 and from 2008 to 2013. This is the fourth time that he holds the position of Ambassador.

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REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

                Before taking over post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Serbia to the Republic of Indonesia, Ambassador Marinkovic headed the Europe department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia.

                Ambassador Marinkovic graduated from the Faculty of Political Science at Belgrade University.  Before joining the MFA, he served as Chief of Cabinet in the Office of the Vice President and President of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Foreign Policy Advisor in the Office of the Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, and Secretary General of the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, among others.

                He is the longest serving Ambassador in the MFA, and has served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Serbia to the Republic of Korea.  Since arriving in Jakarta, he also assumed the duties of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam and Kingdom of Cambodia.

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