New Permanent Representative of Solomon Islands Presents Credentials

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

The new Permanent Representative of the Solomon Islands to the United Nations, Robert Sisilo, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Before his latest appointment, Mr. Sisilo served most recently as Trade Negotiations Envoy in his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, between May 2012 and June 2014.  That followed brief stints as Permanent Secretary in the Foreign Ministry and in the Ministry of Police, National Security and Correctional Services.

With more than 30 years’ experience in trade and international relations, Mr. Sisilo was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade between July 2011 and February 2012, having previously served as its Multilateral Trade Adviser.  Between 2009 and 2010 he was the Acting Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade of neighbouring Nauru, and from 2005 to 2008 he served as Permanent Representative of the Pacific Islands Forum to the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

From 1996 to 2004, Mr. Sisilo was his country’s Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization.  Between 1986 and 1990, he was chargé d’affaires at his country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Mr. Sisilo holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Wollongong in Australia, a diploma in international diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in the United States, a certificate in diplomacy from Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and a bachelor’s degree in history and politics from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.

He is married and has two children.