S’pore appoints new ambassadors to Vietnam, Israel

The Government has appointed two new ambassadors – Mr Jaya Ratnam to Vietnam and Mr Lim Chuan Poh to Israel – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced yesterday.

A career diplomat, Mr Ratnam has been with the foreign service since 1991 and was Singapore’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium from July 2016 to December last year.

Prior to that, he was Singapore’s High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam – from June 2012 to March 2016.

A graduate of the National University of Singapore and Johns Hopkins University, Mr Ratnam has received awards for his work in the civil service, including the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2012 and Long Service Medal in 2014.

He has served in various capacities both in Singapore and abroad, including in roles in the Permanent Mission in Geneva, the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta and the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

Mr Lim also received his new appointment yesterday, taking up the role of non-resident ambassador to Israel, said the MFA media statement.

He is currently chairman of the Singapore Food Agency, and has served in several high-ranking roles in public office.

He was executive chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research from 2007 to 2019, and before that was permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education from 2003 to 2007.

Before joining the civil service, he was a career soldier, spending 23 years in the Singapore Armed Forces and rising to become Chief of Defence Force.

Mr Lim holds degrees from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and Cornell University in the United States.

Ng Wei Kai