Dr. Leslie Satruken Ramsammy has officially assumed his role as Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG).
Dr Ramsammy Wednesday presented his Letters of Credence to Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, Director General of UNOG.
Dr Ramsammy on Wednesday presented his Letters of Credence to Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG).
During the ceremony, Dr. Ramsammy and Ms. Valovaya engaged in a discussion centered on key issues of mutual interest, including climate change, food and nutrition security, energy security, and sustainable development.
Ms. Valovaya highlighted the UN’s initiatives such as the Building Bridges Initiative and Bio-planet, expressing hope for Guyana’s participation in these collaborative efforts.
Ms. Valovaya also extended an invitation to Guyana to join the annual World Bee Day celebration, organized every May 25th by the UNOG in collaboration with the Permanent Missions of Slovenia and Switzerland and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Geneva Office. Dr. Ramsammy responded positively, noting Guyana’s ongoing efforts to establish a honey bank.
Expressing his gratitude for the warm reception, Dr. Ramsammy reiterated Guyana’s commitment to fostering strong cooperation with the UN in pursuit of sustainable development goals.
Dr. Ramsammy has a distinguished career in public health and governance and his expertise in public health and sustainable development has earned him recognition both locally and internationally.
Dr Ramsammy meets with CEO of HEDPAC – Health Development Partnership for Africa and the Caribbean, an NGO to support partnerships between Africa and Caribbean. They will attend the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting later this month and will visit Guyana in August.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Ramsammy had been serving as an Advisor to the Minister of Health of Guyana, concurrently serving as Chair of the Presidential Commission on Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Disease since 2020, and as Chair of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation since 2022. He served as the Minister of Agriculture of Guyana from 2011 to 2015, and as Minister of Health from 2001 to 2011.
Mr. Ramsammy has extensive experience in the field of public health. He has served as Chairman of the Executive Board of Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS, Chairman of the Caribbean Community’s Council for Human and Social Development, and Chairman of the Caribbean Public Health Agency.
He also served as Chairman of the Global Fund for Affordable Medicines for Malaria between 2010 and 2011, and as President of the World Health Organization’s sixty-first World Assembly (2008-2009).
Mr. Ramsammy has a PhD from St. John’s University, New York (1982), a master’s degree from the same University (1979), and a bachelor’s degree from Pace University in New York (1977).
He was Menschel Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in 2015.