President Halimah Yacob received the credentials of the Ambassadors of Spain, Switzerland, Ireland and Bahrain on 30th August 2022 at the Istana.

H.E. Mercedes Alonso Frayle Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain

PRIOR to Ambassador Mercedes Alonso Frayle’s assignment here she was the Deputy Director General for International Organizations at the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA), European Union and Cooperation.

Ambassador Frayle joined the MFA in 1988 and her diplomatic assignments have taken her to Senegal, Panama, Austria, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Germany. She was Deputy Chief of Cabinet of the Undersecretary and Advisor at the Cabinet of the Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1992, and was also Deputy Director General for International Agreements and Regional Fisheries Organisations at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 2010 to 2012.

Ambassador Frayle holds a Bachelor of Law and Grade of Business from Deusto University and a Master of European Law at the College of Europe in Bruges. Ambassador Frayle is fluent in Spanish, German, English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Russian. She is married and has three children.

His Excellency Frank Grütter the Ambassador of Switzerland

PRIOR to his assignment here, Ambassador Frank Grütter helmed the United Nations and International Organizations Division in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), leading Switzerland’s successful bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Ambassador Grütter is a career diplomat with over 24 years of experience in the FDFA. From 2016 to 2018, he was the Head of the Division for Security Policy in the FDFA and Switzerland’s Expert in the UN Group of Government Experts on Cybersecurity.

Ambassador Grütter held various positions in Bern and abroad. He was the Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland in London from 2012-2016. From 2010 to 2012, he was the Chief of Staff of the State Secretary at the FDFA. He has also served as Political Coordinator at the Swiss Mission to the United Nations in New York and as Deputy Head of UN Coordination in Switzerland. From 2000 to 2004, he worked at the Office for European Integration and was a member of the team that negotiated the second package of bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the European Union on services and financial affairs.

Ambassador Grütter graduated in Law and Economics at the University of St Gallen and studied Diplomacy at the Escuela Diplomática in Madrid. He is married with two children.

Her Excellency Sarah McGrath the Ambassador of Ireland

PRIOR to Ambassador Sarah McGrath’s appointment here, she served as Director for UN and International Financial Institutions in the Development Cooperation and Africa Division of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. A significant portion of her career has been spent working on the Northern Ireland peace process, most recently as Political and Reconciliation Director from 2015 to 2018.

Ambassador McGrath is a career diplomat with over 20 years of experience in the Irish foreign service. Ambassador McGrath has served at the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations in New York and the Embassy of Ireland in Berlin. She was also the Director of the Department’s Strategy and Performance Unit.

Ambassador McGrath graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law from University College Cork in 2001. She is an alumnus of the US State Department International Visitor Leadership Programme (2019).

Her Excellency Muna Abbas Mahmood Radhi the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain

PRIOR to joining Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Muna Abbas Mahmood Radhi worked as the Chief Reporter at the Bahrain Tribune. At the Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Muna was the officer in charge of Asia and then the Director of Afro-Asian Affairs Directorate.

Presently she is also the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Kingdom of Thailand since October 2021. Resident in Bangkok, Ambassador Muna is also concurrently accredited to Singapore, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

Ambassador Muna holds a LL.M. in Public International Law from the University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Relations from the American International University in London.

She is fluent in Arabic and English, speaks French, Spanish, and Russian, and is currently learning Thai. She enjoys traveling, drawing, and playing the piano.