64-year old President Chandrikapersad (Chan) Santokhi of Suriname is expected for an official visit on Wednesday, 4 October 2023. The issue of the need to restore peace and order in Haiti is on his agenda.
Early on, Santokhi had stated that the Caribbean Community (Caricom) must do all it can to assist Haiti in overcoming the challenges Haiti is facing. He has announced that Suriname will actively support actions to revert the multidimensional crisis and restore peace and order in Haiti. Suriname has committed to send personnel to support the Kenya-led United Nations security mission in Haiti. The mission has yet to be approved by the UN Security Council.
Santokhi is a former police commissioner in Suriname. He is the youngest in a family of nine children. His father worked in the port of Paramaribo, the capital, and his mother was a shop assistant in Lelydorp.
In 1978, at 19, Santokhi received a scholarship to study at the Nederlandse Politieacademie in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. He received a bachelor’s degree in Applied Research in 1982. In 1989, he was appointed head of the national criminal investigation department and two years later, in 1991, Santokhi was appointed chief commissioner of the Suriname police. From 2005 to 2010, Santokhi was Minister of Justice and Police of the Republic of Suriname.
On his agenda in the Dominican Republic is a visit to the Presidential Palace on Thursday, 5 October 2023 at 10am for a private meeting with President Luis Abinader. Together with the mission that accompanies him, he will also meet with Dominican government officials. There will be the signing of a joint declaration and lunch at the Presidential Palace.
On Santokhi’s agenda is also a visit to Congress where he will be received by the presidents of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
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1 October 2023