On 29 April 2025, three Foreign Heads of Mission presented their credentials to President Tharman Shanmugaratnam in separate ceremonies at the Istana, marking their official roles as Ambassadors and High Commissioners to Singapore.

SINGAPORE, 29 April 2025 – In a reaffirmation of Singapore’s commitment to international diplomacy, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam received the credentials of three newly appointed foreign Heads of Mission in separate ceremonies at the Istana. The envoys included His Excellency Vilatsone Visonnavong, Ambassador of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to Singapore; His Excellency Abu Bakarr Karim, High Commissioner of the Republic of Sierra Leone to Singapore; and His Excellency Dhan Bahadur Oli, Ambassador of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal to Singapore.

HIS EXCELLENCY VILATSONE VISONNAVONG
AMBASSADOR OF THE LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC TO SINGAPORE

Before his appointment to Singapore, Ambassador Visonnavong had been serving as Director-General of the Diplomatic Service Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) since 2023. He also served as Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Organizations at the Ministry from 2020 to 2023, and First Secretary and Third Secretary at the Permanent Mission of the Lao PDR to the United Nations in New York from 2016 to 2019 and 2008 to 2011, respectively.

Ambassador Visonnavong has held various posts at the Department of International Organisations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2000. These include Director of the Research, Coordination and Statistics Division from 2019 to 2020, Director of the International Non-Governmental Organizations Division from 2015 to 2016, and Deputy Director of the United Nations Political and Security Affairs Division from 2012 to 2015. Ambassador Visonnavong has a Master of Arts in International Relations from Flinders University, South Australia, Australia, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, ºÚÁÏÉç.

HIS EXCELLENCY DHAN BAHADUR OLI
AMBASSADOR OF THE FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF NEPAL TO SINGAPORE

Ambassador Dhan Bahadur Oli is a career diplomat with 27 years’ experience. Ambassador Oli took up post as Ambassador of Nepal to the Kingdom of ºÚÁÏÉç in June 2024 and holds concurrent accreditation to Cambodia and the Lao PDR. He is also the Ambassador-designate of Nepal to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Before this, Ambassador Oli served as Joint Secretary of the Regional Organizations Affairs Division and Director General of the Department of Consular Services at Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2020 to 2023.

Before that, Ambassador Oli held various positions, including Chargé d’Affaires a.i. and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Nepal in Dhaka, Regional Director at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Secretariat, and First Secretary at the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi. Ambassador Oli holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

HIS EXCELLENCY ABU BAKARR KARIM
HIGH COMMISSIONER OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE TO SINGAPORE

High Commissioner Dr Abu Bakarr Karim has been Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China since January 2024. Apart from Singapore, he is concurrently accredited to Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Before his current appointment, he was Presidential Adviser on Trade and Investment (2018), Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (2019), and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (2021).

High Commissioner Karim graduated from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases. He holds a degree in Clinical Trials Research, Intensive and Critical Care. He was a healthcare practitioner in Tropical Disease and Nursing, and specialised in Intensive Care Medicine before joining the public sector.

Source: MFA

H.E. Faizullah Zaki Ibrahimi Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

AMBASSADOR Faizullah Zaki Ibrahimi was appointed Ambassador-designate of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Republic of Singapore (resident in Jakarta) in August Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Ibrahimi was the Afghan Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled from 2017 to 2019.

Before his ministerial appointment, he was deputy National Security Advisor in the Office of the National Security Council and had served as Senior Presidential Advisor to President Ashraf Ghani. He was also an elected representative to the Afghan Parliament from 2005 to 2010 after a stint in the private sector.

Ambassador Ibrahimi holds a bachelor’s degree in Geology from Kabul University. He is married with four sons and one daughter. He speaks Dari, Pashto, Uzbek, Turkish, Russian and English fluently.

H.E. Jalal Sabir Oglu Mirzayev Ambassador of Republic of Azerbaijan

Mr. Jalal Sabir Oglu Mirzayev, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Singapore, is a career diplomat with over 20 years of experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.

Mr. Mirzayev joined the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. He served at the Azerbaijan Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2001 to 2003, and at the Azerbaijan Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels from 2003 to 2005. He joined the First (Western) Territorial Department of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2005, before being appointed as First Secretary at the Azerbaijan Embassy in Malaysia in 2007. He returned to the First (Western) Territorial Department of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2009 as Head of Division. Mr. Mirzayev also served as Deputy Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg from 2011 to 2015, and later assumed the position of Deputy Head of the Americas Department of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in October 2015. He served as Chargé d’affaires in the Netherlands from September 2017 until his appointment as Ambassador to Indonesia in September 2019. He has also served as Ambassador to ASEAN since 2020.

Mr. Mirzayev holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from Baku State University. He is married with three children, and speaks English, French and Russian.

H.E. GANESH PRASAD DHAKAL Ambassador of Nepal

H.E. Ganesh Prasad Dhakal has been Nepal’s Ambassador to ºÚÁÏÉç since June 2019, with residence in Bangkok. Ambassador Dhakal is concurrently accredited to Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. He also serves as Nepal’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Asian Institute of Technology.

Ambassador Dhakal is a career diplomat, having joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal in 1996. Prior to his current appointments, Ambassador Dhakal was the Joint Secretary and Head of the Northeast Asia Division at the Ministry’s headquarters from 2016 to 2019. His other appointments at headquarters include Director-General of the Consular Services Department (2015 – 2016); and Joint Secretary and Head of the Central Asia, West Asia and Africa Division (2015).

Ambassador Dhakal’s previous overseas postings were in the Nepalese Embassies to Qatar (2013 – 2015), Berlin (2007 – 2012), and Russia (1999 – 2003).

Ambassador Dhakal holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He is married and has two children.