Washington’s newest crop of ambassadors includes five women, two diplomats who have previously served here, and one son of a former ambassador. They represent a variety of countries ranging from the world’s most populous, India, with just over 1.45 billion inhabitants, to one of its smallest—tropical Barbados—with only 282,000.

The list also includes one of the wealthiest nations, Switzerland, with annual per-capita income exceeding $90,000, to one of its poorest, Somalia, with a per-capita income of only $527.

Vinay Kwatra, India’s new envoy to the United States, has been a diplomat for the last 36 years. This is actually his second stint in Washington; from 2010 to 2013, he headed the embassy’s commercial wing. Kwatra’s previous assignments include director and joint secretary of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Kathmandu, Nepal (2006-10); deputy chief of mission at the Indian Embassy in Beijing (2003-06), and other roles in Tashkent, Durban, Karachi and Geneva.

Later on, Kwatra served as India’s ambassador to France and UNESCO (2017-20), ambassador to Nepal (2020-22), and foreign secretary (2022-24).

India’s chief rival, Pakistan, also has a new envoy in Washington: Rizwan Saeed Sheikh.

At the time of his appointment, Sheikh was serving as Pakistan’s additional foreign secretary for Middle East affairs, and was also overseeing the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) at the Foreign Office. Local sources said Sheikh’s involvement with the SIFC facilitated his close collaboration with Pakistan’s military establishment, which likely contributed to his selection as ambassador.

Sheikh previously worked with the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and was the OIC secretary-general’s spokesman. He has also taken part in talks with the G-77, the Non-Aligned Movement and the UN in Geneva.

Panama’s new man in Washington is following in his father’s footsteps. Prominent attorney José Miguel Alemán Healy is the son of Roberto Alemán Zubieta, was also ambassador in Washington (1968-69). So was the new ambassador’s brother, Jaime Alemán (2009-11).

Alemán has a strong background in public service, with posts as foreign minister (1999-2003), vice-minister of government and justice (2001), vice-president of the National Committee of the Centenary (2002-03) and member of the Foreign Relations Council (2009-11 and 2014-19).

In the private sector, Alemán was a founding partner of Arias Alemán & Mora, where he had worked since 1987. He’s also served on the boards of Multibank Inc. (1987-2020) and Multibank Insurance Corp. (2010-20), and since 2015 has been on the board of Mi Exito Financial Services.

Neighboring Colombia also has a new ambassador in town: Daniel García-Peña Jaramillo—a distinguished historian and academic, and son of a Colombian diplomat.

García-Peña spent his childhood in the United States, taught US history and foreign policy for many years in Colombia, and has held numerous positions overseas. From 1995 to 1998, he was the country’s high commissioner for peace, and later founded the nonprofit group Planeta Paz.

The incoming envoy has also enjoyed a long career in journalism, and his work with the Bogotá newspaper El Espectador earned him the prestigious Simón Bolívar Journalism Award for Best Column of the Year in 2011.

This group of newly accredited ambassadors also includes three Scandinavians: Finland’s Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, a native of Kaustinen; Iceland’s Svanhildur Hólm Valsdóttir of Reykjavík, and Norway’s Anniken Huitfeldt, who grew up in Jessheim, just outside Oslo.

Mikkola, who was assigned here in September, is a career diplomat. She joined Finland’s Foreign Ministry in 1992, and for years, she specialized in Middle Eastern and African affairs—most recently as Helsinki’s ambassador to Israel (2011-16) and as the ministry’s director-general for Africa and the Middle East (2017-21).

Mikkola has also been posted to Finnish diplomatic missions in Brussels, Canberra, Athens and Budapest. Before her current assignment, she was Finland’s ambassador to China (2021-24).

Born in 1962, Mikkola has a master’s degree in law from the University of Helsinki as well as two grown sons, and likes to read and enjoy the outdoors in her spare time.

Valsdóttir has enjoyed a long professional career as a journalist and government advisor. Born in 1974, she has an MBA from the University of Reykjavik, and is married with seven children ages 14 to 35.

A reporter, editor and radio and TV host at RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, from 1999 to 2004, Valsdóttir also led various projects for the Ministry of Education (1997-2002) while representing the Nordic Youth Committee and the Gender Equality Committee.

Valsdóttir was a host and editor at Iceland’s Channel 2 (2004-09), later becoming secretary general of the Independence Party’s Parliamentary Group, Alþingi (2009-12), advisor to the party’s chairman (2012-13), senior advisor at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (2013-17 and again in 2017-20), and finally secretary general of the Iceland Chamber of Commerce (2020-24).

Huitfeldt, who’s been on the job since August 2024, has a bachelor’s degree in geography from the London School of Economics, and a master’s in history from the University of Oslo.

Huitfeldt got involved in student politics while in high school, eventually becoming vice-president of the International Union of Socialist Youth. But her political career really took off with her election as deputy representative to Norway’s parliament in 1993. She served as a lawmaker until 1997, and then again from 2001 to 2005, when she became a full representative in parliament for the first time—remaining there until 2021.

She also led the Norwegian Labour Party’s women’s network for 12 years, from 2007 to 2019, and has held various cabinet-level positions, including minister of children and social inclusion (2008-09); minister of culture and sport (2009-12); minister of labor and welfare (2012-13) and minister of foreign affairs (2021-23).

The ambassador and her husband, Ola Petter Flem, have three children. Among her interests: running, cross-country skiing, literature, theater and music.

Nearby Latvia has named Elita Kuzma as its first-ever female envoy to the United States.

Kuzma graduated from the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Finance and Trade, as well as its Institute of International Relations; she also studied at Stanford University.

She joined the Latvian Foreign Service in 1992, taking up a post at the Foreign Ministry’s Economic Cooperation Division. Following other positions within the ministry, she later became head of the Economic and Bilateral Relations Directorate, head of the European Union Directorate and chief of state protocol.

Kuzma’s overseas postings include ambassador to Austria, Sweden, Italy, Germany and Czechia. Upon presenting her credentials on Sept. 18, Kuzma thanked President Biden “for his personal role and profound understanding of transatlantic security issues. and for the international leadership of the US in countering Russia in its war against Ukraine.”

Other newly named ambassadors to the United States include Victor Anthony Fernandes of Barbados; Botswana’s Mpho Churchill O. Mophuting; Ecuador’s Cristian Espinosa Cañizares; Fiji’s Ilisoni Vuidreketi; Guinea-Bissau’s Maria da Conceição Nobre Cabral; Kenya’s David Kerich; Montenegro’s Jovan Mirković; Somalia’s Dahir Hassan Abdi; South Sudan’s Santino Fardol W. Dicken; and Switzerland’s Ralf Heckner.

(Published with Permission from The Washington Diplomat)

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