The following Heads of Mission presented their credentials to President Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam in separate ceremonies at the Istana today:
(a) The Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates
His Excellency Dr Mohamed Omar Abdulla Balfaqeeh
(b) The Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan
His Excellency Dr Usen Abdikadyruly Suleimen
(c) The Ambassador of the Czech Republic
His Excellency Ivan Hotěk
Their bio summaries are attached.
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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
30 JUNE 2016
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Prior to his current appointment, Dr Mohamed Omar Abdulla Balfaqeeh was the Adviser to the Chairman of the Department of Economic Development (DED) in Abu Dhabi. He had also served as the Undersecretary of the DED from March 2007 to June 2015, and as the Director General of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry from May 1997 to March 2007. He has extensive experience in the areas of law, banking and economic development. Dr Mohamed served as a Member of the Board of Directors of several government and semi-government entities.
He was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Northampton in 2013.
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Dr Usen Suleimen took up his appointment as Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Singapore in June 2016. Prior to his current appointment, he served as Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2016, Deputy Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna (Austria) from 2009 to 2012, and Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau (People’s Republic of China) from 2005 to 2009.
A career diplomat, Dr Suleimen joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 1992 as the State Protocol officer. In 2001, he was appointed Head of MFA’s Multilateral Cooperation Directorate’s International Organizations division. Between 1995 and 2000, Dr Suleimen served at the Kazakhstan Embassy in Tehran (Iran), first as Second Secretary and then as First Secretary. He was subsequently posted to the Kazakhstan Embassy in Ashgabad (Turkmenistan) in 2004 as Counsellor, after having served as Corporate Development Director of Management, Economics and Strategic Research Institute (Kazakhstan) from 2002 to 2004. He also worked at Kazakhstan’s national media agency “Khabar” from 2000 to 2001.
Dr Suleimen graduated with an honours degree from the University of Foreign Languages of Kazakhstan. He received his MA in International Relations from Columbia University in New York, USA. In 2013, he received his PhD from Hong Kong University, People’s Republic of China.
Dr Suleimen is married with 5 children. He speaks Kazakh, Russian, English, Persian and Chinese.
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Mr Ivan Hotěk is currently the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Republic of Indonesia. He is resident in Jakarta, Indonesia, and concurrently the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Republic of Singapore, the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste, Brunei Darussalam, and to ASEAN.
He had arrived in Jakarta with his spouse, Jitka Hotkova, and their son, Jakub, on 10 October 2015 and presented his credentials to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, on 13 November 2015. He is a career member of the Czech Foreign Service with 25 years of experience.
Prior to his assignment in Jakarta, Mr Hotěk served as the Junior Deputy Minister for Communication at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2015. He had held several positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague, including as Director-General of the Logistics Division from 2004 to 2006.
In terms of overseas assignments, Mr Hotěk was the Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand, and concurrently the Ambassador to Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar, from 2006 to 2011. During his term in Bangkok, he was responsible for, among others, the 2009 Czech Presidency of the European Union in countries that he was accredited. He was also the lead negotiator for the bilateral debt settlement between the Czech Republic and Cambodia as well as for the resettlement of refugees from Myanmar to the Czech Republic.
Prior to that, Mr Hotěk served as the Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2000 to 2004. From 1995 to 2000 he was assigned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as Minister Counselor and permanent Charge d’ Affaires.
Mr Hotěk studied international finance and economics. He graduated from the Prague Economic University.