By Jhr. mr. Alexander W. Beelaerts van Blokland, Justice (Judge) in the Court of Appeal and Special Advisor International Affairs of the Municipality of The Hague.
In July, August and September, international The Hague welcomed seven new persons.
On Wednesday July 2nd H.E. Makalai M. Barsevich (1970) started as the new ambassador of Belarus. He studied at the Moscow Military Linguistic University and ever since he worked for the ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2002 to 2006 he was Chargé d’ Affairs a.i. in Prague and from 2006 until 2014 Chief Protocol in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
On the same day H.E. Maria Theresa Infante Caffi presented her credentials. She is an international lawyer, who visited The Hague in 1974 and 1988 for studies at the Hague Academy for International Law. She also studied in Spain and Switzerland. From 1980 Mrs. Infante Caffi worked at the University of Chile and since 1997 for the ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chile as well . She wrote several books on international law and was University Professor in Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Spain.
From September 1, H.E. Baroness Bibi van Zuylen van Nijevelt replaced H.E. Martine van Loon –who served for thirty years in that function – as the Mistress of the Robes of the Royal Household (‘Grootmeesteres’) . At the same date Mr. Roelof van Ees became the new Chief Protocol MFA in stead of Mr. Govert Jan Bijl de Vroe who was appointed ambassador in Portugal.
On Wednesday September 10th three new ambassadors presented their credentials to the King:
First H.E. Adia Sakiqi, the new ambassador of Albania, who speaks Dutch because of study and work in Belgium and The Netherlands since 2001. Studied Philosophy and European Politics in Leuven in Belgium, worked as an interpreter at ICTY in The Hague from 2002 to 2004 and had from 2004 until now different functions in Brussels.
Second H. E. Janet Lowe, born in Taipei (Taiwan), is the new ambassador of New Zealand, the same function that her husbands brother had in the past, also in The Hague. Mrs. Lowe studied English literature and later on the Japanese language as well; she was posted as a diplomat in Brussels and –several times- in Japan, lately as deputy Chef de Poste and Consul-General since 2011.
Third H.E. Urs Breiter (1953), the new ambassador of Switzerland, a lawyer from Zürich. He worked for the Swiss MFA since 1982 in Bern, Moscow, Madrid, Ankara and Vienna, before he was posted as ambassador in Bosnia Herzegovina (2002-2006), Mexico (2006-2010) and Vienna (2010-2014).
We wish them all very nice and succesful years in The Hague !
