NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SAINT VINCENT AND GRENADINES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

 

(Based on information provided from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

Camillo M. Gonsalves, the new Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Gonsalves served as Senior Crown Counsel in the Attorney Generals Chambers, beginning in August 2005.  In that position, he participated in an advisory capacity on behalf of his Government in the PetroCaribe energy contract negotiations in Venezuela, in September 2005, and he served as a member of his Government’s delegation to Ethiopia in October of that year to participate in meetings addressing issues of governmental cooperation, including visa waivers and trade assistance.  He also represented his Government in, among other endeavours, discussions with the Libyan Government in December 2005, aimed at establishing diplomatic relations with that country.

Also in the diplomatic sphere, Mr. Gonsalves was a member of multiple delegations of his Government to Cuba to discuss a variety of matters, including airport development, a medical diagnostic centre, and a myriad of other forms of social and technical cooperation.  He served as a member of the delegation to the Republic of Korea, which conducted discussions relating to diplomatic, economic and technical cooperation.  He also represented his Government in several high-level bodies of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), including at the Heads of Government Conference, the Subcommittee on the Harmonisation of Laws, the Legal Affairs Committee, and the Council for Finance and Planning. 

From October 2004 to April 2005, Mr. Gonsalves worked in private practice as an attorney at DunnCox, a law firm in Kingston, where he assisted with legal research and the drafting of pleadings for matters before the Resident Magistrate’s Court and Supreme Court.  He was an Associate in the law firm of Mehri & Skalet from February 2004 to September 2004.  He served his Government as a Legal Adviser from December 2002 to August 2005.  Before that, he worked at two other law firms, Weiner Brodsky Kider PC (September 2001 to September 2003), and Weiner Brodsky Sidman Kider PC (May 1999 to May 2001).

Mr. Gonsalves founded Reggaematic Magazine in October 1997, and has been its publisher and editor-in-chief since then.  It is an informational magazine produced by the Government’s Agency for Public Information.  Among his other posts, Mr. Gonsalves has been the on-air host of a weekly live three-hour radio programme called “Reggae Blast” since June.  He was also art director, writer and copy editor (March 1995 to August 1996) of The Philadelphia Tribune.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and his Juris Doctor degree from the George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C., also in the United States.  He received his Legal Education Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 12 June 1972, Mr. Gonsalves is not married.

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For information media • not an official record