UNOG - United Nations Office at Geneva

08/17/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 08/17/2026 05:38

New Permanent Representative of Suriname Presents Credentials to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva

Aashna Wandani Kanhai, the new Permanent Representative of Suriname to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented her credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Kanhai had been serving as the Secretary General of the Alliance Francaise Suriname since 2025. Also since 2025, she had been a part time university lecturer, and since 2022, she had been working as an attorney at law. From 2018 to 2021, she served as Ambassador of Suriname to the International Solar Alliance.

Ms. Kanhai served as Ambassador of Suriname to India from 2012 to 2021, concurrently serving as non-resident Ambassador to Sri Lanka from 2014 to 2021, and to Bangladesh from 2016 to 2021. She worked as a part-time university lecturer from 2006 to 2011, and as a free-lance legal columnist from 2005 to 2010. She was also working as a lawyer and attorney from 2004 to 2011.

Ms. Kanhai holds a master's degree in Dutch law from Ereamus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and a bachelor's degree in notary law from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. She was born on 18 August 1976. She has one child.

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