H.E. Latifah Zaini has been appointed as the Permanent Representative of Brunei Darussalam to ASEAN since 28 February 2023. H.E. Latifah also serves as the Representative of Brunei Darussalam to the Governing Council of the ASEAN-IPR.
A career diplomat, H.E. Latifah joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006. Before her Ambassadorial appointment, she was the Deputy-Director General of the ASEAN-Brunei Darussalam National Secretariat from July 2019. Her other assignments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs include Minister Counsellor at the Department of Europe and Americas in 2015 – 2019 and Assistant Director at the Middle East Division in 2012 – 2014. She was posted as the Second Secretary at the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam in Arab Republic of Egypt in 2019 – 2012.
H.E. Latifah was awarded with the Excellent Civil Service Employee Award in 2014 and Pingat Indah Kerja Bakti in 2017.
H.E. Latifah graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Arabic Linguistics from Al-Azhar University, Arab Republic of Egypt. Aside from Malay language, she also speaks English and Arabic. She is married with two children.
Ambassador Heng Sarith started his career as a Diplomat since 2006. He served as Second Secretary of the Royal Embassy of Cambodia to the Republic of Indonesia and Permanent Mission of Cambodia to ASEAN from 2012-2015. Prior to his appointment as Permanent Representative of Cambodia, He had worked as the Deputy Director-General of the General Department of ASEAN, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation from 2018-2022.
He had also worked as a Research Fellow at Cambodia Institute for Strategic Studies (CISS) and Cambodian Institute for Peace and Cooperation (CICP) from 2016-2017. He got his Master Degree on Public Policy in September 2010 from National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, Japan.
He was awarded with Royal Order of Monisaraphon Chavalier in 2019.
He is married with three children.
Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister on Regional Diplomacy
H.E. Ngurah Swajaya is the current Representative of Indonesia to the Governing Council of the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-IPR). He currently also sits as Special Advisor to the Minister of Regional Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. A career diplomat with more than 30 years of experience. Prior to that, he served as Director General for American and European Affairs – Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2020-2022), Ambassador of the Republic to the Republic of Singapore (2016-2022), Head of Economic Diplomacy Task Force – Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013-2015), Ambassador/Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to ASEAN (2010-2013), Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to the Kingdom of Cambodia (2009-2010), Director for ASEAN Political and Security Cooperation – Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006 2008), and Director for Development, Economic and Environmental Affairs (2004-2006). H.E. Ngurah Swajaya is a Master of Arts, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tuft University, (Boston, USA) and a Law Degree, from Udayana University (Bali, Indonesia).
H.E. Bovonethat DOUANGCHAK has been appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to ASEAN since August 2021. He also serves as the Representative of the Lao PDR to the Governing Council of the ASEAN-IPR.
Ambassador Bovonethat DOUANGCHAK began his career as official of the ASEAN Economic Cooperation Department of Ministry of Commerce from 1998 to 1999; Senior Official from 1999 to 2006 and Deputy Director from 2006-2007 of the Economic Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA); Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission of the Lao PDR to the United Nations in New York from 2007 to 2011; Director of the ASEM Division from 2011-2013 and Director of International Economic Division from 2013-2014, Department of Economic Affairs; Counselor from 2015-2016, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim from July 2016 to January 2017 and Deputy Permanent Representative from 2017 to 2018 at the Permanent Mission of the Lao PDR to the United Nations (UN) Office and other International Organisations in Geneva. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to ASEAN, he served as Deputy Director-General of ASEAN Department from February 2019 to July 2021.
Ambassador Bovonethat graduated with a Master of Public Policy, Major of Economics and Public Policy at KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Seoul, Republic of Korea in 2002; Bachelor of Business Administration, Major of International Business Management with 1st Class Honours at University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok in 1997; and Diploma of Civil Engineer at the School of Communication and Transportation, Road and Bridge Engineering in Vientiane, Lao PDR.
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H.E. U Aung Myo Myint was born on 26 July 1964 in Zalun Township of Ayeyawady Region. He currently sits as the Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to ASEAN. Prior, he was appointed as the Director-General to the Strategic and Training Department of Myanmar in September 2019. He attained his Bachelor of Arts in 1984 from Yangon University majoring in English before pursuing a Master Degree in Southeast Asia Studies in Tsubuka University, Japan in 2005.
H.E. U Aung Myo Myint began his political career in 1986 as an Attach in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar, undertaking many diplomatic posts including in New Delhi (1991-1993) as Third Secretary; Kathmandu (1999-2003) as Second and later first Secretary; Beijing (2005-2008) as First Secretary and Counsellor, and Brussels (2011-2014) as Counsellor/Minister Counsellor. Following his tenure as Assistant Director of Political Department from 2003 to 2005, he has been appointed, among others, as Deputy Director of ASEAN Affairs Department (2008-2011), Director of ASEAN Affairs Department (2014-2016), Deputy Director-General of ASEAN Affairs Department, and Deputy Permanent Representative/Minister of the Permanent Mission of Myanmar to the UN in Geneva (2018-2019).
His extensive experience has granted him with three awards celebrating his contribution to civil service, namely the Law and Order Award (1994), the Civil Service Award (2006), and the Excellent Civil Service Award (2019).
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Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Philippines to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Ambassador Quintana is a career diplomat. She served in the Philippine diplomatic missions in Beijing (China), Washington, DC (USA), Dublin (Ireland), Muscat (Oman), and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. In her concurrent capacity as Ambassador to the UAE, Ambassador Quintana served as Permanent Representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
Prior to her appointment as Ambassador to the UAE, she was Assistant Secretary in charge of the Office of the Middle East and Africa Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Ambassador Quintana has a B.A. Political Science and Master in International Relations degrees from the University of the Philippines. She also has a Master of International Public Policy degree from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. She took Diplomatic Studies in Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
Ms. Kok Li Peng has been serving as Singapores Permanent Representative to ASEAN in Jakarta.
Ms. Kok graduated with a Bachelor of Laws, Second Class Honours, from the National University of Singapore in 1994. She obtained a Masters in Arts (Political Science) from Columbia University in 2006, on a Fulbright Scholarship.
A career diplomat, Ms. Kok joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995. She has served as Ambassador in Manila from March 2015 to December 2018. Before her ambassadorial appointment, Ms. Kok served as Director-General in the ASEAN Directorate from 2012 to 2015. Her other overseas postings include Permanent Mission of Singapore to the United Nations in New York, where she was Deputy Permanent Representative and Counsellor from 2008 to 2012, and Embassy of Singapore in Washington, D.C as a First Secretary from 1999 to 2002. Her other assignments in Ministry Headquarters include Deputy Director covering Malaysia and Brunei from 2006 to 2008 and Assistant Director covering Malaysia and Brunei and subsequently Assistant Director for Special Projects from 2002 to 2005.
Ms. Kok Li Peng was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2008. She was appointed to the NIE International Board in 2012.
Dr. Sukontasap has been appointed as Representative of Thailand to the Governing Council of ASEAN-IPR since 2017. He has extensive experience in working in the government and private sectors, as well as in the academic circle. He has served as head of the Cambodian Desk at the Foreign Ministry of Thailand in the final stages of the Cambodian Conflict, which resulted in the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement in 1993. He was in charge of the ASEAN-SOM desk and was responsible for organizing the 1st ASEAN Regional Forum in Bangkok in 1994. He also served at the United Nations in New York as assistant to the first Co-Chairs of the General Assembly Open-ended Working Group on the Reform of the UN Security Council, between 1995-1996.
In the private sector, Dr. Sukontasap currently serves as Chairman, Board of Directors, Vesak Capital Ventures Co. Ltd. (VCV). Prior to this, he served as Director, CEO and deputy CEO of a number of publicly listed companies in Thailand. Dr. Sukontasap specializes in Tax, Trade and Fiscal issues, with special focus on WTO and AFTA rules and regulations. He was also based in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Dr. Sukontasap received his B.A. in political science from Chulalongkorn University, Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy and Doctorate degrees from the Fletcher School, Tufts University. Has also attended the Managing Global Business Program for Senior Executives at INSEAD, France. Dr. Sukontasap was a Fulbright, John E. Peurifoy and Manuel L. Quezon scholar. He is an advisor to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, National Legislative Assembly of Thailand. He is also a Director to the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of the Exim Bank of Thailand. Most recently, he was the editor of a 260-page book entitled 50 Years of Thailand in ASEAN, published in May 2018.
He is married to Mrs. Ruyaporn Sukontasap, a diplomatic officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.
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Ambassador Nguyen Hai Bang is currently the Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to ASEAN. He currently also sits as the Representative of Viet Nam to the Governing Council of the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-IPR).
Previously, he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Social Republic of Viet Nam to the Kingdom of Thailand (2017-2020). Prior to being appointed as Ambassador, Mr. Nguyen Hai Bang was Director-General of Department of Africa and the Middle East (2013-2017) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Viet Nam, where he also served as Deputy Director-General prior (2011-2013). Moreover, he has served as Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Viet Nam in Denmark (2007-2011); as Desk Officer, and then as Deputy Director-General, Europe Department, MOFA Viet Nam (2002-2007); Second Secretary, Embassy of Viet Nam in London, UK (1999-2002); Desk Officer, Europe Department, MOFA Viet Nam (1991-1999); and, Desk Officer, Press & Information Department, MOFA Viet Nam (1988-1991).
Ambassador Nguyen Hai Bang was born on 8 February 1963. He graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam in 1985 and had his post-graduate Study in the Former Soviet Union. He also holds a Master of Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government (1996-1997), Harvard University. Aside from his mother tongue, he speaks English, Japanese and Russian. He is married with 3 children.
