Government Leaders List 2021

2021 Government Leaders List

The 2021 Indiaspora Government Leaders List recognizes more than 200 Ieaders of the Indian diaspora who have ascended to the highest ranks of government in 15 countries across the globe.

While some are elected officials, others are appointees or civil servants. All have risen to the call for public service. Key agents in shaping politics and policy from a local to global scale, their leadership will impact generations to come.

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About

The 2021 Indiaspora Government Leaders List recognizes more than 200 Indian diaspora leaders who have ascended to the highest echelons of public service in 15 countries across the globe, with nearly 70 of these leaders holding senior, cabinet-level positions.

Methodology

To compile this list, Indiaspora researched government websites and other publicly available resources to compile a comprehensive list of diaspora leaders serving in the following positions:

Heads of government and deputy heads of government
Ministers and agency heads serving as part of a government’s cabinet
Ambassadors* and consuls general*
Parliamentarians and federal legislators*
Chief justices
Heads of central banks
Senior civil servants*
Additional U.S. leaders, including federal administration nominees and appointees, and state and local leaders

*Countries with a significant history of diaspora migration were included, such as Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Officers of Indian citizenship were not included because the list aims to highlight the contributions of the diaspora.

A man with a beard and mustache in front of a colorful background.|A man with a beard and tie in front of a colorful background.

Asraf Caunhye

Chief Justice | Mauritius

Asraf Caunhye

As judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Caunhye was appointed as a Supreme Court justice in May 2020. And since then has delivered judgment in many reported constitutional and electoral cases. Justice Caunhye has also served as Parliamentary Counsel where he was the Head of the legal drafting department, which is responsible for the drafting of legislation for Parliament. Justice Caunhye has also drafted and finalized various human rights-related Bills, including the Protection of Human Rights Bill, which provided for the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Caunhye also served as Assistant Solicitor-General.

A man in suit and tie with flag background|A man in suit and tie with flag background

Kamal Kumar

Chief Justice | Fiji

Kamal Kumar

Justice Kamal Kumar is the Acting Chief Justice of FijI since April 2019. Before, he served as a judge in the Civil Division of the High Court of Fiji from May 2013, where he was appointed chairperson of the Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission in September 2018.
Previously, from 2001 to 2006 and from 2009-2012, he was president of the Lautoka Branch of the Dakshina India Andhra Sangam of Fiji. He currently serves as the national president of the organization in 2012. He also serves a variety of positions at the Rotary Club of Lautoka, the District 9920 Rotary International, and the Board of Visitors for Lautoka Hospital.
He received his Bachelor of Law from Queensland University of Technology, Australia in 1999, and in the same year he became the barrister to the High Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Queensland. From 2000 to 2013, he worked as a lawyer at Young & Associates, Solicitors in Fiji.

A man in an official gown standing next to the flag of singapore.

Sundaresh Menon

Chief Justice | Singapore

Sundaresh Menon

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on 6 November 2012. He is the first Singapore-born Chief Justice.
Chief Justice Menon graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) from the National University of Singapore in 1986 and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1991. He was admitted as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore in 1987, and as an attorney and counsellor-at-law in New York in 1992.
After he was called to the Bar in Singapore, he practised with major local and international law firms, primarily as an advocate, in the fields of commercial litigation and arbitration, construction law and insolvency law. From 2006 to 2007, he served as a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2008. In 2010, he was appointed the 6th Attorney-General of Singapore, a post he relinquished in 2012 shortly before his appointment as a Judge of Appeal. He was appointed to the Presidential Council for Minority Rights upon his appointment as Attorney-General in 2010 and was later appointed as its Chairman in 2012, upon his appointment as Chief Justice. He is also the President of the Singapore Academy of Law. Chief Justice Menon is married with three children.

A man in a suit and tie standing next to an indian flag.

Iwan Rasoelbaks

President of High Court of Justice | Suriname

Iwan Rasoelbaks

A woman in glasses and tie standing next to a flag.|A woman in glasses and tie standing next to a flag.

Niermala Badrising

Ambassador to the U.S. | Suriname

Niermala Badrising

Ambassador Badrising is Suriname’s Ambassador to the United States of America. Niermala was appointed on July 21 2017. She is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Niermala started working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1989. She kept working there until 1996, which included a term as Head of the United Section at the Department of International Organizations. Between 1998 and 2012 she worked as senior advisor and chief coordinator at the Office of the President of Suriname. In November 2011 she was appointed as Permanent Representative of Suriname to the Organization of American States, with co-accreditations to the Inter-American Development Bank and Worldbank.
Niermala obtained a master’s degree in International Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Netherlands. In 2007 she obtained a master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in the United States. She also has a licentiate degree in law from the Anton de Kom University of Suriname, where she specialized in international labor law and international relations.

A man in suit and tie standing next to a flag.|A man in suit and tie standing next to the flag of south africa.|A man in suit and tie standing next to a flag.

Mohamed Insanally

Ambassador to the U.S. | Guyana

Mohamed Insanally

Ambassador Insanally assumed the post on September 1, 2016 as the Ambassador of Guyana to the U.S. and Fourth Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS). Riyad is a career diplomat, having joined Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990. Prior to this posting, he was the OAS Representative in Trinidad and Tobago (2008-2016) and an Adviser to the OAS Assistant Secretary General, in Washington, DC (2006-2008).
Riyad was a Senior Trade Adviser at the Guyana High Commission in London, and Commercial Representative of the Guyana Sugar Corporation, representing Guyana’s sugar interests in Europe (2004-2006). He was a Political Adviser to the first two Secretaries General of the Association of Caribbean States in Port of Spain, Trinidad (1997-2003); and a Senior Foreign Service Officer in the Guyana Foreign Ministry (1990-1997), specialising in multilateral diplomacy and regional integration issues. He was also a Lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Guyana from 1981 to 1984.
Riyad studied Modern Languages and Latin American Studies and holds MA and MPhil degrees from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from Harvard University.

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Gita Kamath

High Commissioner to South Africa | Australia

Gita Kamath

High Commissioner Kamath is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is currently Australian High Commissioner to South Africa with accreditation to six other countries in Southern Africa
Gita holds a Master of Arts (Foreign Affairs and Trade), Australian National University; a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws, University of New South Wales; and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, University of Technology Sydney

A woman standing in front of an indian flag.

Ashna Kanhai

Ambassador to India | Suriname

Ashna Kanhai

Ambassador Kanhai is Suriname’s Ambassador to India.

A man in glasses and suit standing next to the flag of suriname.

Rajendre Khargi

Ambassador to The Netherlands | Suriname

Rajendre Khargi

Rajendre Khargi is a Suriname Ambassador to Netherlands. He also serves as Suriname’s representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). He previously has served as Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs inInternational Business and International Cooperation, and has served as Advisor to the Chair of VHP – Progressive Reform Party.
He has received his Business Administration degree from Business School Netherland.

A woman standing in front of the flag of fiji.

Namita Khatri

High Commissioner of Fiji to India | Fiji

Namita Khatri

High Commissioner Khatri is Fiji’s designate to India. Prior to her appointment, Namita served as Deputy Permanent Representative in Fiji’s permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva in September 2014.
Namita began her diplomatic career as second secretary to Fiji’s Mission to the European Communities and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Belgium in 2006 where she was responsible for providing advice on trade matters in line with Fiji’s development interests. She has been the Deputy Head of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group in Geneva in 2010. She has also served as First Secretary in Fiji’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York in 2012 before being appointed as Deputy Permanent Representative in 2014.
Namita completed her Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand in 2000 and then did her Postgraduate Diploma (History/Politics) from the University of the South Pacific. She has also completed her Masters of Arts in International Relations from the Australian National University and postgraduate qualification in WTO Trade Law from the TMC Asser Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

A man in suit and tie standing next to an asian flag.

Ashok Kumar Mirpuri

Ambassador to the U.S. | Singapore

Ashok Kumar Mirpuri

Ambassador Mirpuri is Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States of America. Ashok was appointed in July 2012. Prior to his current appointment, he served as Ambassador to Indonesia from 2006 to 2012, High Commissioner to Malaysia from 2002 to 2006 and High Commissioner to Australia from 2000 to 2002.
Ashok joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 1984. In 1994, he was appointed Director of MFA’s Policy Planning & Analysis Directorate I (Southeast Asia). In 1997, he was seconded to Shell International Ltd in the United Kingdom as Corporate Advisor (Asia Pacific). He was subsequently assigned to the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta in 1998 as Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission, having previously served in Jakarta as First Secretary (Political).
Ashok graduated with an honours degree from the National University of Singapore. He received his MA at the University of London’s School of Oriental & African Studies under a Raffles Scholarship. He attended the Programme for Executive Development at the Institute for Management Development, Switzerland, and the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, USA.

A man in a suit and tie with the words indiaspora 2 0 2 1 government leaders written above him.

Vikash Neethalia

Acting Ambassador to the U.S. | Mauritius

Vikash Neethalia

Vikash Neethalia joined the Mauritius Foreign Service in 1998 after two decades in the education sector. Currently stationed as Charge d’Affaires at the Mauritius Embassy in Washington Dc since January 2020. As part of the Diplomatic Cadre, took assignments in numerous Diplomatic Missions across the continents to promote and strengthen the overall bilateral, trade and investment interests of Mauritius with a view to improving the socio-economic standard of the country and its people Exploring possibilities of opening diplomatic missions in countries of accreditation in the region to promote interests of Mauritius and better serve the Mauritius Diaspora
Successfully completed several diplomatic assignments in South Africa (2001-2004), India (New Delhi, 2006-2011), Malaysia (2013-2016). Held the post of Charge d’Affaires in Malaysia from 2014-2016.
Graduated from the University of London in 1995. as interests in Global Affairs, International Humanitarian Law and Diaspora related matters, reading, music, soccer, long distance track and swimming. Proper command (written and spoken) of English, French and Hindi.

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Nadir Patel

High Commissioner of Canada to India | Canada

Nadir Patel

High Commissioner Nadir Patel serves as Canada’s High Commissioner to India, as well as Canada’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Nepal and to the Kingdom of Bhutan. Nadir is Canada’s longest-serving High Commissioner to India, where he oversees Canada’s largest diplomatic mission abroad, in Delhi and seven other cities in India. Prior to his arrival in India, Nadir served as Assistant Deputy Minister and CFO for Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, where he oversaw an annual budget of nearly $10 billion and concurrently held the role of Chief Human Resources Officer for the Department’s workforce of 10,000.
Nadir previously served as Canada’s Consul General in Shanghai, China, managing Canada’s presence in Eastern China and leading Canada’s participation in World Expo 2010. Prior to that, Nadir held a series of high-level government positions, including Chief of Staff to the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, Senior Policy Advisor to the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet, and Canada’s Chief Air Negotiator negotiating an unprecedented 43 international airspace treaties.
Nadir has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from New York University’s Stern School of Business, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the HEC Paris School of Management.

Kamal Vaswani

Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates | Singapore

Kamal Vaswani

Ambassador Vaswani is currently Singapore’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Kamal was most recently Director-General of the Europe Directorate and concurrently Vice Dean (Academic) of the Diplomatic Academy from 2015 to 2019.
Kamal joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995. His first overseas assignment was as First Secretary at the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur from 1998 to 2002. He was subsequently posted as Counsellor in the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta from 2004 to 2008, and Deputy Permanent Representative in the Singapore Permanent Mission to ASEAN from 2008 to 2009. At the Ministry’s headquarters, he has served as Assistant Director, Deputy Director, and Deputy Director-General in the Southeast Asia Directorate. He was awarded the Commendation Medal in 2005.
Kamal graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) in 1995. He obtained a Masters in International Public Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University in 2003, on a Singapore Government Scholarship.

Armand Achaibersing

Minister of Finance | Suriname

Armand Achaibersing

In July 2020, Armand Achaibersing became Minister of Finance and Planning in the Santokhi cabinet.
Previously, Armand was Chairman of the Surinamese Association of Insurance companies and headed Assuria NV.