NW, Suite 300, 20007
TELEPHONE: 202-293-7940
SPAIN
‘JUMPINGHIGHER’
Ramón GilCasares Satrústegui
EMBASSY: 2375 Pennsylvania
Ave. NW, 20037
TELEPHONE: 202-452-0100
RESIDENCE: 2350 Foxhall Rd. NW 20007
AMBASSADOR:
SRILANKA
AMBASSADOR: Prasad
Kariyawasam
Kariyawasam
EMBASSY: 2148, Wyoming
Avenue NW, 20008
TELEPHONE: (202) 483 4025
RESIDENCE: 2503 30th Street, NW 20008
SPOUSE: Kanthi
SUDAN
AMBASSADOR: Emad
Mirghani
Abdelhamid Altohamy
SPOUSE: Maha Abdelmonim Ibrahim
EMBASSY: 2210 Massachusetts
Ave NW, 20008
TELEPHONE: (202) 338-8565
SURINAME
CHARGÉ D’AFFAIRES: Sylvana
Elvira Simson
4301 Connecticut
Ave.NW, 200008
TELEPHONE: 202-244-7488
RESIDENCE: 7000 31st street nw 20015
EMBASSY:
SWAZILAND
AMBASSADOR: Reverend
Abednego Ntshangase
Phindile Futhi Ntshangase
EMBASSY1712 New Hampshire
Ave. NW, 20009
TELEPHONE: 202-234-5002
SPOUSE:
SWEDEN
AMBASSADOR: Björn
Olof Lyrvall
K. Anderson Lyrvall
EMBASSY: 2900 K St. NW, 20007
TELEPHONE: 202-467-2600
RESIDENCE: 3900 Nebraska Ave, NW
SPOUSE:
SWITZERLAND
AMBASSADOR: Martin
Werner Dahinden
Anita Dahinden
EMBASSY AND RESIDENCE : 2900
Cathedral Ave, NW 20008
TELEPHONE: 202- 745-7900
SPOUSE:
TAJIKISTAN
AMBASSADOR: H.E.
Farhod Salim
Marhabo Bilolova
EMBASSY 1005 New Hampshire Ave.
NW, Washington D.C., 20037
TELEPHONE: 202-223-6090
Netherlands Ambassador Henne Schuwer
BY ROLAND FLAMINI
T
here’s a peripatetic flavor to your typical not the ambassador of the U.K. so I have to jump a
diplomatic career, with postings in several little higher,” he adds.
countries and moves every four or five
Even so, our relationship works., Schuwer
years; so Henne (Hendrik) Schuwer’s long says, citing burgeoning trade figures. In 2012,
stretch in Belgium is something of a legend in the Dutch investments in the U.S. economy passed
Netherlands Foreign Service. “I am slightly the the $275 billion mark, an increase of $35
envy of my colleagues because I spent 13 years in billion from the previous year, and American
Brussels,” he said (not without a certain smugness) investments in the Netherlands were $645
shortly after his arrival as the new Netherlands billion, an increase of $50 billion. Trade of goods
ambassador to Washington.
and services between the two countries rose to
Actually, the real total is 17 years: he served $90 billion, an increase of $9 billion.
in his country’s Brussels
Schuwer
says
embassy for four years
the Hague hopes for
earlier in his career.
Washington’s support
Fourteen years later,
in taking action on the
he was deputy chief of
findings of the current
the Dutch mission to
inquiry into the downing
the European Union in
last year of Malaysia
the Belgian capital from
Airlines flight MH17 in
2002-2006, remained
eastern Ukraine near
there as chief of staff
the Russian border. One
to NATO Secretary
hundred ninety-eight
General Jaap de Hoop
Dutch passengers were
Schaffer (2006-2009),
among those who lost
and – following a year
their lives in the crash,
back at the Hague
widely believed in the
– was appointed
West to have been
Holland’s ambassador
caused by a Russianto Belgium from 2010
supplied missile fired by
to this summer.
the rebels (the Russians
And Brussels is
blame
Ukrainian
Photo courtesy Royal Netherlands Embassy
where Schuwer, 62, and
government forces).
his Swedish-born wife
Findings of the
Lena will retire after Washington to play golf and inquiry will be handed to the Dutch prosecutor for
tennis and see what the future brings. In interviews action. “We’re not going to war over this, but for us
he has called the Belgian capital one of the least the issue is almost a holy task,” says Schuwer. “It’s a
efficient cities where a person can end up, “but I political situation where you need your friends.”
have fallen in love with it.”
Like many Europeans from the six EU founding
This is not Schuwer’s first American posting countries he laments how hard it has become to
either. He was consul general in Los Angeles in reach consensus among the 28 nations on such
the late 1980s and then deputy chief of mission in major problems as the euro crisis and the Syrian
Washington (1997-2002). “Having been here before immigrants. “It was much easier to be solid when
is a big advantage because otherwise it takes you a we were six,” he says. The “narrative of Europe” has
year to adjust,” he observes. Not that Washington changed, he says. “Germany has become the center
itself remains the same. Every election brings new of Europe; the German way of doing business is
changes in the administration and “you have to re- dominating Europe at the moment.”
invest in new contacts.”
But not everyone is willing to accept that reality.
In the nation’s capital big countries have easier “Maybe if you live in Greece you don’t want to live
access by virtue of their relative importance. “I’m like a German.”
SPOUSE:
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
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