New Permanent Representative of Barbados Presents Credentials

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

The new Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations, Henrietta Elizabeth Thompson, presented her credentials to UN Secretary‑General António Guterres today.

A former Minister in the Government of Barbados, Ms. Thompson was most recently interim Executive Director of the State University of New York‑University of the West Indies Centre for Leadership and Sustainable Development from 2016 to 2017.

She was Senior Adviser to the United Nations Secretary‑General’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative in 2014 and 2015, and as Special Adviser to the President of the United Nations General Assembly in 2013 and 2014.

In 2013, she served as a high‑level consultant on the post‑2015 development agenda to the Executive Office of the Secretary‑General and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  Prior to that, she was an Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as the Rio+20 Conference, from 2010 to 2012.

From 1994 to 1999, and again from 2001 to 2008, she held several ministerial posts, including as Minister for Environment, Energy, Housing and Lands, Physical Development and Planning, and Health.

Ms. Thompson holds four university degrees, among them a master’s degree in law from Robert Gordon University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Liverpool, both in the United Kingdom.