King presents letters of appointment to 9 envoys
KUALA LUMPUR: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V yesterday presented letters of appointment to nine new Malaysian envoys, including the new Malaysian ambassador to Thailand, Jojie Samuel M.C. Samuel.
Jojie Samuel, 53, who is also the director-general of the AseanMalaysia National Secretariat since last year, has served as envoy to Cuba, Austria, Turkey, Iraq and Canada.
Foreign Ministry Undersecretary for East Asia Division Datuk Ganeson Sivagurunathan, 49, received his appointment letter as the new ambassador to Austria. He was formerly the ambassador to Chile, besides having served in the United States and Papua New Guinea.
Sharrina Abdullah, 47, who has been the envoy to Senegal since 2014, received the appointment letter as the ambassador to Switzerland at the ceremony at Istana Negara.
Sultan Muhammad V also presented the letter of appointment to the foreign minister’s special officer, Abdul Malik Melvin Castelino, 49, as the ambassador to Italy.
Malaysia will also have a new ambassador to Qatar with the appointment of Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, 54, who served as the Malaysian envoy to Poland, as well as to Australia, United Arab Emirates, Cuba and Chile.
Letters of appointment were also presented to Foreign Ministry Undersecretary for Multilateral Security Affairs Division, Ikram Mohd Ibrahim, 47, who is now high commissioner to Pakistan, and to Foreign Ministry deputy director-general of the Policy Planning and Coordination Department Dr Shazelina Zainul Abidin, 45, as the Malaysian ambassador to Senegal.
Director-general for the Asean Economic Community under the Asean-Malaysia National Secretariat, Astanah Banu Shri Abdul Aziz, 46, received the appointment letter as the new ambassador to Morocco after serving in the US, South Korea and France, while Foreign Ministry Undersecretary for Inspectorate Division Nur Izzah Wong Mee Choo, 48, received her appointment letter as the new high commissioner in New Zealand.
At the ceremony, His Majesty also received instruments of appointment from 10 foreign envoys, namely Al-Abbas Ibrahim Hamed Al Harthi of Oman, Nurudeen Muhammed (Nigeria), Ramzia Diab Ghanim (Gambia), Nikoloz Apkhazava (Georgia) and Julia Greenwood Bentley (Canada), as well as Slobodan Marinkovic (Serbia), Fransisco Assis Morais E. Cunha Vaz Patto (Portugal), Cristiano Maggipinto (Italy), Mauricio Gonzalez Lopez (Colombia) and Samali Dorothy Hyuha (Uganda). Bernama