President Luis Abinader, accompanied by Vice President Raquel Peña and Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez, received the letters of credence of seven new ambassadors on Tuesday, 14 February 2023.
These are Ambassadors Yaser Awad Al-Abdulla (Qatar), Lee Sang Ryul (South Korea), Philip H. St. Hill (Barbados), Todor Kanchevski (Bulgaria), Le Thanh Tung (Vietnam), Yvonne Nkwenkwezi Phosa (South Africa) and Abdelkader Hadjazi (Algeria).
South Korea and Qatar have embassies in the Dominican Republic. The ambassadors of Vietnam, South Africa, Barbados, and Bulgaria are based in Cuba concurrently for the Dominican Republic. Algeria has an embassy in Venezuela with concurrent to the Dominican government.
The ambassador to the State of Qatar, Yaser Awad Al-Abdulla had served as ahargé d’affaires of the embassy from July 2019 to date.
The ambassador of the Republic of Korea, 57-year old Lee Sang Ryul has served as ambassador to the Ivory Coast, a minister counselor at the Korean Embassy in France, deputy head of mission in Taiwan, minister counselor in the embassy in Czech Republic, at the Korean Embassy in the Kingdom of Denmark. He previously was director of the North and West Africa Division, Africa and Middle East Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT). He is a graduate in political science and international relations with master’s in public administration and law.
The ambassador of Barbados, Philip H. St. Hill, joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Barbados in 1996 and has been in the foreign service since 1998, where he has held various positions in different missions. He is a graduate in history and social studies from the University of the West Indies.
The ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria Todor Kanchevski has served as deputy chief of mission and consul of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Caracas, Venezuela and Havana, Cuba. He also served as sales manager for Agria, a leading company in the field of producing, importing and trading with herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, biostimulants, growth stimulants and microelements.
Le Thanh Tung presented his credentials for the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Since January 2020 he has been the ambassador Vietnam to Cuba, concurrent to the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Haiti, Costa Rica, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and St. Lucia. He also served at the the Embassy of Vietnam in Spain.
The new representative of the Republic of South Africa, 66-year old Yvonne NKwenkwezi Phosa has served as the speaker of the Mpumalanga Legislature from 2004-2009 and jointly as president of the Mpumalanga Commonwealth Parliamentary Association from 2005-2009. She is a graduate in social work with a master’s degree in public administration. She is an honorary citizen of Calgary, Canada and has an honorary award by Lowveld Chamber of Business.
Abdelkader Hadjazi currently serves as ambassador of Algeria to Venezuela since 7 December 2021. He is a career diplomat with the current rank of minister plenipotentiary. He served as ambassador to Libya from 2019 to mid-2021 and ambassador to Yemen and Eritrea between 2004-2019.
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Presidency
15 February 2023