Albania

Mamica Toska assumed the position of minister plenipotentiary on Sept. 22, replacing Anton Koliqi, who departed the post on Sept. 16.

Belarus

Pavel Shidlovsky assumed the position of chargé d’affaires on April 14, replacing Oleg Kravchenko, who departed the post on April 22. Shidlovsky previously served as director of the U.S. and Canada Office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Estonia

Eerik Marmei became ambassador of Estonia to the United States on Sept. 18, having most recently served as ambassador to Poland and Romania, residing in Warsaw. Ambassador Marmei, who has been working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1993, began his career in the Political Department as the desk officer for the United States. He has also worked as the director of the Bureau for International Organizations and Security Policy, the Estonian Delegation to NATO and Estonian embassies in Washington and London. From 2008 to 2010, he headed the NATO and European Union Department at the Ministry of Defense and returned thereafter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as director of the Security Policy and Arms Control Division in the Political Department. Before assuming his current position, Ambassador Marmei served as Estonian Ambassador to Poland and Romania residing in Warsaw. Ambassador Marmei, who was born on May 6, 1970, in Tartu, Estonia, graduated from Tartu University in 1993 and received master’s degree in international relations from Notre Dame University in 1996.

France

Brig. Gen. Vincent Cousin assumed the position of defense attaché on Aug. 30, replacing Brig. Gen. Bruno Antoine Caitucoli, who departed the post on Aug. 29.

Ghana

Gloria Gyeke-Gyampoh assumed the position of first secretary (administration) on Sept. 16, replacing Theodora Duncan-Ocquaye, who departed the post on Sept. 26. Gyeke-Gyampoh previously served at the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa, from 2006 to 2010.

Hungary

Gen. Zsolt Sandor assumed the position of defense, air and military attaché on Aug. 15, replacing Col. Zoltan Bone, who departed the post on Aug. 15.

Somalia

Awale Ali Kullane assumed the position of minister counselor to the Somali Mission to the United Nations on Oct. 1.

Idd Beddel Mohamed departed the post of deputy permanent representative to the Somali Mission to the United Nations on June 14.

Switzerland

Martin Dahinden was appointed by the Swiss government as the ambassador of Switzerland to the United States on Oct. 6. Prior to that, he served as director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) from 2008 to 2014 and headed the Directorate of Corporate Management of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) from 2004 to 2008. During his long career in the Swiss diplomatic service, Ambassador Dahinden has served as director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, as a member of the Swiss Delegation to GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), at the Embassy of Switzerland in Paris, as deputy to the Swiss ambassador in Nigeria and in a temporary posting at the Swiss Mission to the United Nations in New York. In addition, he worked in the FDFA’s Service for Disarmament Policy and Nuclear Issues, as head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Service of the Directorate of Political Affairs, and he held the position of deputy head of the OSCE Coordination Unit during the Swiss chairmanship of the OSCE in 1996. The following year, he was sent abroad as deputy head of the Swiss Mission to NATO in Brussels. Ambassador Dahinden was born in Zurich in 1955. He earned a Ph.D. in economics (business administration) from the University of Zurich. Before joining the diplomatic service, he worked as a postgraduate assistant at the university and was then employed by a bank and a publishing house. Ambassador Dahinden is married to Anita Dahinden and they have two children, Robert and Andrea.