THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday that approval has been received from the respective governments for the appointment of four new Guyanese diplomats. The new appointees and their designations are: Dr. Kenrick Hunte, High Commissioner to South Africa; Dr. Riyad Insanally, Ambassador to the United States of America; Ms Sita Pilgrim, Consul-General to Barbados; and Ms. Shirley Melville, Consul-General to Boa Vista.
A former General Manager of the now defunct Guyana Agricultural and Industrial Development Bank (GAIBANK), Dr Hunte has a Ph.D in Economics and Rural Financial Markets from the Ohio State University, and specialises in money, banking and rural finance.
Currently a Professor of Economics at Howard University, Washington D.C., among courses he teaches at both the graduate and undergraduate levels are: Principles of Macroeconomics and Microeconomics; Monetary Analysis; Money and Banking; Statistics; Intermediate Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Theory; Financial Intermediation; Independent study and International Economics.
As Director of Graduate Studies at the said Howard University, a post he’s held since since October 2009, one of his key responsibilities is managing the Ph.D. and Masters Degree programmes.
He’s also a member of the examination committee that manages the qualifying examinations for MA and Ph.D. students, as well as a member of the committee responsibile for Dissertation and Thesis Defence examinations.
Since December 1996, he’s served as a consultant to the US-headquartered World Bank, in which capacity he’s analysed the financial reform of 117 regional rural banks in India; set guidelines to enhance financial sustainability; and analysed systems and procedures used for delivering micro-credit to small rural borrowers in South India.
OAS FOCAL POINT
In the case of Dr Insanally, he currently serves as the focal point in Trinidad and Tobago for the Organisation of American States (OAS), a post he’s held since April 2008.
In that capacity, he was largely responsible for facilitating OAS technical support to the T&T government in the run-up to, and after, the historical 5th Summit of the Americas, which was held in the ‘Twin-Island Republic’ as Trinidad is sometimes called, in 2009.
From September 2006 to March 2008, he served as an adviser to the OAS Assistant Secretary-General on such matters as political relations with member states; trade and development; and inter-institutional cooperation.
Before joining the OAS in September 2006, Dr. Insanally, whose fortes are Modern Languages and Latin American Studies, represented Guyana’s sugar interests in Europe (2004-2006), serving concurrently as Senior Trade Adviser at the Guyana High Commission in London and Commercial Representative of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
He was at one time Political Adviser to the first two Secretaries-General of the Association of Caribbean States (1997-2003), in Port of Spain, and served as a Senior Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guyana (1990-1997), specialising in multilateral diplomacy and regional integration issues.
He also taught Spanish at the University of Guyana from 1981 to 1984.
LETHEM BUSINESSWOMAN
Ms Melville, who owns and manages a business at Lethem, in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), has diplomas in Communications and Business Management from the University of Toronto, Canada.
She also functions as a point of contact for tourists, as well as any other person seeking information about the Rupununi and Lethem.
In 1996, she co-founded the NGO, ‘Helping Hands Women’s Group’, and currently serves as its secretary. That same year, she also co-founded the Guyana Action Party (GAP), which she represented in the National Assembly from 2001 to 2006.
She’s also adviser to regional Amerindian communities and individual community members on social and economic issues, entrepreneurship, etc.
In 2013, she opened the Rupununi’s first private craft shop, and in 2015, contributed to the drafting of a ‘National Policy for Ecotourism Development in Guyana’, Ministry of Tourism.
BANKER CUM LINGUIST
From 2000 to 2004, Mrs Pilgrim served as a Human Resource and Compliance Officer for BanCaribe (Offshore) Bank, Bridgetown Barbados/Caracas Venezuela.
She’s also served as an Interpreter and Translator, and was responsible for staff recruitment and work distribution and security and compliance of all customers’ accounts, as well as translating bank documents from Spanish into English.
Between 1986 and 1993, she was employed by the now defunct Inner London Education Authority (ILEA), where she Chaired School Broadcast and Educational TV and Dance Forum.
She was also the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Society for the Deaf, where she was responsible for raising and distributing funds for the training of hearing- impaired students, as well as teachers for the hearing-impaired in Commonwealth Countries.
Mrs Pilgrim was also a committee member of the Caribbean and Latin American Organisation (UK) with responsibility for fostering closer ties between the organisation and African countries.
She is the founder of the Association of Guyanese Nurses and Allied Professionals, which is dedicated to assisting a wide cross-section of professionals and patients in Guyana both financially and through skills-sharing and training.
From 1979 to 1986, she served as the simultaneous interpreter to Guyana’s Ambassador to Cuba. She has a diploma in Spanish from the Jose Marti School of Language Studies, and another in Child Psychology from the University of Guyana.
HEADS OF MISSION
Those appointed Heads of Mission so far are:
Embassies and High Commissions
1. Venezuela – Cheryl Miles
2. Suriname – Keith George
3. George Talbot – Brazil
4. Belgium – David Hales
5. London – Hamley Case
6. Canada – Clarissa Riehl
7. Cuba – Halim Majeed
8. China – Bayney Karran
9. South Africa – Dr. Kenneth Hunte
CONSULATES
1. Nickerie, Suriname – Esther Griffith
2. Boa Vista, Brazil – Shirley Melville
3. Bridgetown, Barbados – Sita Pilgrim
