NEW ARRIVALS
Edgar Gaspar Martins
Ambassador of Angola
Ambassador Gaspar Martins has a degree in international relations from the University of Havana in Cuba.
He began his diplomatic career in 1983 as an attaché and third secretary in the Africa and Middle East section of the foreign ministry. By 1993, he was first secretary at the embassy in Portugal, returning six years later as head of the Africa and America division for bilateral co-operation. In 2001, he was first secretary at the embassy he’s now returned to as ambassador.
Between 2006 and 2010, he was head of the Europe division of bilateral co-operation. From 2010 to 2014, he was director of human resources at the foreign ministry.
Gaspar Martins is married and has one adult son. He is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and functions in English and French as well.
Yvonne V. Walkes
High Commissioner for Barbados
High Commissioner Walkes, an avid trade unionist, began her career in that movement. Most recently, she was senior industrial counsellor with the Barbados Workers’ Union. In this capacity, she set up the first counselling service for workers and their families.
In non-governmental organizations, she has worked on such issues as gender-based violence, human trafficking, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, child care, equality and others. She was president of the National Organization of Women of Barbados and of the Democratic League of Women.
In politics, she was appointed a senator of Parliament from 1990 to 1994. One of her greatest accomplishments came at independence celebrations in 2010 when she received the Silver Crown of Merit for her groundbreaking work in the trade-union movement, education and women’s advocacy.
Walkes has one grown daughter, Keisha.
Pavel Hrncˇírˇ
Ambassador of Czech Republic
After completing studies in philosophy at Charles University in Prague, Ambassador Hrnčíř began his career as deputy director of the Library of the Museum of Czech Literature in Prague. He then became chief publication editor at the Organization for Humanitarian Cooperation in Prague, after which, in 1994, he joined the foreign ministry’s department of cultural diplomacy.
By 1998, he was deputy head of the embassy in Paris. He returned to headquarters in the policy department for a year before becoming deputy head of mission in Geneva for four years. In 2010, he became head of delegation to the Council of Europe. Before coming to Canada, he was deputy director of the foreign ministry’s policy and planning department.
Hrnčíř speaks English and French and is an author of children’s books.
Vishnu Prakash
High Commissioner for India
High Commissioner Prakash joined the foreign service in 1981. After postings in Moscow and New Delhi, he was assigned to handle economic and commercial matters in New York.
In 1992, he was appointed consul general to Vladivostok during which time direct trade links between India and Russia were established. He was next assigned as political counsellor in Tokyo (1997-2000) and then Islamabad (2001). In 2002, he became economic and commercial minister in Cairo.
In 2006, he was appointed consul general in Shanghai and served there until August 2008, when he was named joint secretary and official spokesman of the foreign ministry in New Delhi.
In 2012, he became ambassador to South Korea. The high commissioner is married to Neelam and they have two adult children.
Kenjiro Monji
Ambassador of Japan
After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Tokyo University, Ambassador Monji joined the foreign ministry in 1975.
The ambassador has served mainly in the areas of treaties, national security and cultural exchange. He has had postings in France, Australia, Belgium, Britain and at the European Union in Brussels.
After holding posts in Tokyo as deputy director-general of the Treaties Bureau and as director-general for international affairs at the defence ministry, he served as ambassador to Iraq (2007), director-general for public diplomacy at the foreign ministry (2008), ambassador to Qatar (2010) and permanent delegate of Japan to UNESCO (2013).
Having been awarded the title of sake samurai by the Japan Sake Brewers
Association Junior Council, Monji also promotes Japanese sake overseas.
Daeshik Jo
Ambassador of Korea
Ambassador Jo, whose 30-year diplomatic career has focused on political and multilateral issues, has worked extensively on North Korean nuclear issues as director of international co-operation at the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) from 2001 to 2002.
Jo was responsible for establishing public diplomacy as a pillar of Korea’s foreign affairs strategy while serving as director-general for public diplomacy (2009-2011).
From 2011 to 2012, he was ambassador to Libya, leading the evacuation of more than 15,000 Koreans and affiliates during the civil war. In 2014, he was again dispatched to Libya as a special envoy to secure the release of an abducted Korean diplomat.
Jo’s previous overseas postings have
include Canada (1990-1992), Oman (1992-1997), Austria (1997-2001), Singapore (2003-2006) and Sweden (2006-2009).
He is married with two grown sons.
Toni Dimovski
Ambassador of Macedonia
Ambassador Dimovski began his career in 1995 in the private sector and joined the public service in 1998 as a policy adviser in the ministry of economy. He later moved to the ministry of trade.
In 2001, Dimovski was appointed deputy head of the ministry of finance and four years later, he was in charge of writing the annual budget for Macedonia.
In 2007, he became director of the Agency for Financial Support in Agriculture and Rural Development and his leadership resulted in the expansion of the agency, which now has eight regional offices.
The ambassador studied at Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, where he received a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1997. He is married and has two daughters.
Julio Cesar Arriola Ramirez
Ambassador of Paraguay
Ambassador Ramirez has a master’s degree from the InterAmerican College of Continental Defence and graduated from the diplomatic and consular academy of Paraguay.
He began his career in 1990 as an officer at the Clorinda consulate in Argentina and spent the next year at the consulate in Formosa. In 1995, he became counsellor at the permanent mission of Paraguay at the OAS, and was later upgraded to minister. In 2001, he became director of international organizations and in 2004, director-general of multilateral policy.
From 2005 to 2009, he was chargé d’affaires in Costa Rica and from 2009 to 2011, he was the representative’s alternate at the permanent mission to the UN. In 2012, he became deputy minister of administration and technical affairs.
He is married and has four children.
Ousmane Paye
Ambassador of Senegal
Ambassador Paye has a degree in international relations from l’Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales in Paris. He began his diplomatic career in 1979, as a technical adviser to the foreign minister. For the following seven years, he was first secretary at the mission in Germany and later, between 1983 and 1986, served as first secretary in Austria.
The ambassador served as a technical adviser on the Francophonie to the
Senegalese president from 1987 to 1993. He was minister of youth and sports from 1993 to 1998 and minister-counsellor to the president from 1998 to 2000. He served as a special adviser to the secretary general of the Francophonie from 2002 to 2015 and head of the delegation of the Francophonie to the United Nations.
He speaks French, English and German.
Non-heads of mission
Andorra
Gemma Raduan Corrius
Third secretary and chargé d’affaires
Angola
Ladislau Augusto T. Silva
Attaché
Austria
Alexandra Deutsch
Assistant attaché
Benin
Gérard Deffodji S. Agbangla
Attaché
Houèvo Angèle E. Adoukonou
Attaché
China
Liping Zhao
Minister-counsellor
Hungary
Laszlo Sinka
First counsellor
Indonesia
Kartika Candra Negara
Minister-counsellor
Israel
Sergei Kudashev
Attaché
Japan
Tsuneyasu Taguchi
First secretary
Takako Yamada
Second secretary
Eiichi Yokota
First secretary
Kazakhstan
Nurzhan Aitmakhanov
First secretary
Mauritius
Mohammad Kayoum Safee
Second secretary
Jaime Fernando Mozambique Chauque
First secretary
New Zealand
Sean William Stewart
Naval attaché
Peru
Eduardo Narcisho Malca Valverde
Assistant military and defence attaché
Poland
Aleksandra Jadwiga Kucy
Counsellor and consul
Russia
Oleg Pozdnyakov
Counsellor
Lilit Ignatyan
Attaché
Maria Kreymer
First secretary
Saudi Arabia
Ibrahim Turki I. Alturki
Attaché
Vietnam
Hung Son Nguyen
Minister-counsellor and deputy head of mission