Albert Ramchand Ramdin (born 27 February 1958) is a

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

se diplomat serving as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

in the

Santokhi cabinet The Santokhi cabinet has governed Suriname since 16 July 2020. It was formed by President Chan Santokhi after the 2020 Surinamese general election. In February 2023 Gregory Rusland and the National Party of Suriname The National Party of Surin ...

since 16 July 2020. He is a member of the Progressive Reform Party (VHP). He was a diplomat until 2015 and was, among other roles, Assistant Secretary General of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

(OAS). In March 2025 he was elected to serve as the

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the OAS for the 2025–2030 term.

Early life and education

Ramdin was born in Suriname District and went to secondary school in the capital city of

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

. After completing secondary school, he left for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

where he studied

social geography Social geography is the branch of human geography that is interested in the relationships between society and space, and is most closely related to social theory in general and sociology in particular, dealing with the relation of social phenome ...

at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

and the

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public university, public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in ...

Career

In 1991, Ramdin became the Director of the HIMOS Development Agency in

Oegstgeest Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in . Etymology The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the Geest, geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeent ...

, Netherlands. In 1997, Ramdin was appointed the Permanent Representative of the

(OAS) for Suriname. In 1999, he became assistant general for external relations at the

Caribbean Community The Caribbean Community (abbreviated as CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organisation that is a Political association, political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) and five associated members thro ...

(CARICOM). In 2001, Ramdin became adviser to the Secretary General of the OAS. On 7 June 2005, Ramdin was elected Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States, and took office on 19 July 2005. In July 2015, he returned to Suriname where he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In August 2015, approximately a month after his return to Suriname, he was appointed by Minister

Niermala Badrising Niermala Badrising (born 4 July 1962) is a Surinamese diplomat and politician. She was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Suriname in the cabinet of President Dési Bouterse between 12 August 2015 and 1 February 2017. She was ambassador to the United ...

as Ambassador at Large. In May 2016, Ramdin started working for the American gold mining company Newmont Corporation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

On 16 July 2020, Ramdin became Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation in the cabinet of President

Chan Santokhi Chandrikapersad "Chan" Santokhi (; , ; born 3 February 1959) is a Surinamese politician and former police officer who is the 9th president of Suriname, since 2020. After winning the 2020 elections, Santokhi was the sole nominee for president o ...

. In August 2020, he was the first Surinamese member of government in ten years to pay an official visit to the Netherlands.

Candidacy for Secretary General of the Organization of American States

In early 2025, Ramdin presented his candidacy to succeed

Luis Almagro Luis Leonardo Almagro Lemes (; born June 1, 1963) is a Uruguayan lawyer, diplomat, and politician who served as the 10th Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) from 2015 to 2025. A former member of the Broad Front, Alm ...

as OAS Secretary General. He was elected to a five-year term on 10 March 2025.

Awards

* 2009: GOPIO International Award * 2013: CREF Award, Caribbean Renewal Energy Forum

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramdin, Albert 1958 births Permanent representatives of Suriname to the Organization of American States Ambassadors of Suriname to Costa Rica Ministers of foreign affairs of Suriname Living people Progressive Reform Party (Suriname) politicians University of Amsterdam alumni Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Indo-Surinamese people Surinamese politicians of Indian descent