Press release from Ministry for Foreign Affairs

New ambassadors from Australia, Honduras, South Sudan and Costa Rica

Published 22 September 2016

On Thursday 22 September 2016, the ambassadors from Australia, Honduras, South Sudan and Costa Rica presented their letters of credence to HM The King in a formal audience at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. A letter of credence is an authorisation issued by an ambassador’s head of state. By presenting letters of credence to Sweden’s head of state, the ambassador can, from that day, fully represent their country in Sweden.

H.E. Mr Jonathan Charles William Kenna, Australia

Australia's newly appointed ambassador, Mr Jonathan Charles William Kenna,was born in 1960 and began his career at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2004. In recent years he has held the following posts:

2015–2016
Assistant Secretary, India and Indian Sub-Continent Branch

2013–2014
Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy in Bangkok and Australia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of the Asia Pacific

2012–2013
Thai language training

2010–2011
Assistant Secretary, Trade Commitments Branch

2007–2010
Counsellor at Australia's Permanent Mission to the WTO in Geneva

H.E. Mr Roberto Ochoa Madrid, Honduras

The newly appointed ambassador from Honduras to Sweden (based in Brussels), Mr Roberto Ochoa Madrid, was born in 1959 and has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Relations since 1990. He has worked as an adviser on international and protocol matters in the office of the President. In recent years he has held the following posts:

2013–2016
Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2010–2013
Director-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2006–2010
Ambassador to Greece, Hungary, Cyprus and Italy

2000–2002
Ambassador to Israel

H.E. Mr Majak Philemon Majok Koung, South Sudan

South Sudan's newly appointed ambassador to Sweden (based in Oslo), Mr Majak Philemon Majok Koung, was born in 1960 and has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1986. In the course of his career he has held posts including the following:

2015–2016
South Sudan's Ambassador to Norway

2008–2015
Director of the European Affairs Department at the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Khartoum

2004–2008
Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Sudan in Sweden

1998–2000
Counsellor at the Embassy of Sudan in Bonn

H.E. Mr José Enrique Castillo Barrantes, Costa Rica

Costa Rica's newly appointed ambassador to Sweden (based in London), Mr José Enrique Castillo Barrantes, has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1987, holding posts including the following:

2014–2015
Ambassador in Copenhagen

2011–2014
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica

2007–2011
Head of Costa Rica's Permanent Representation to the Organisation of American States in Washington