Singapore appoints top diplomats to UN, ASEAN, India, Cambodia

Singapore has appointed Karen Tan as permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, and Lim Thuan Kuan as its new higher commissioner to India, respectively, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday.

Tan Hung Seng is appointed the permanent representative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, and Kevin Cheok will be the new ambassador to Cambodia.

Karen Tan had been the Singapore's higher commissioner to India from February 2011 to June 2013. Concurrently, she was ambassador to Bhutan and Nepal from May 2011 to June 2013.

She joined the Foreign Service in 1985, and had served in the missions in Paris and the United Nations, before her roles as Ambassador to Laos from 2004 to 2007 and as permanent representative to the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization from 2007 to late 2010.

Lim joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in August 1984, where he covered several portfolios including Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, the United States, Public Affairs and Regional Policy before taking charge of the South Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America Directorate; the Southeast Asia Directorate and the ASEAN Directorate.

He will assume his new post as higher commissioner to India on Aug. 12.

Tan Hung Seng, who will be the new top diplomat to ASEAN, joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990 and served as ambassador to Egypt from July 2009 to July 2013.

He has held various senior appointments at the ministry's headquarters, and worked in various capacities on issues related to ASEAN, the Middle East and international organizations.

Tan will assume his post as permanent representative to ASEAN in Jakarta on Aug. 9.

Kevin Cheok, who will be the new ambassador to Cambodia, was director-general for Southeast Asia in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2013, and has held other senior positions in the ministry's headquarters in earlier years.