New Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago Presents Credentials

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

The new Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations, Pennelope Beckles, presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today.

An attorney-at-law, Ms. Beckles has held a number of ministerial posts in Trinidad and Tobago, including Minister for Public Utilities and the Environment from 2003 to 2007, Minister for Culture and Tourism from 2002 to 2003 and Minister for Social Development from 2001 to 2002.

Having entered Parliament in 1995 as an Opposition Senator, she served as Leader of Opposition Business in Trinidad and Tobago’s Senate from 2010 to 2013 and its first female Deputy Speaker of the Parliament from 2007 to 2010.

Ms. Beckles attended the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Cave Hill, Barbados, and Hugh Wooding Law School. 

Born on 12 September 1961, she is married and has four stepchildren.