KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Kamina Johnson Smith today announced the appointment of Angella Comfort as High Commissioner-designate to the Republic of South Africa.

The ministry, by way of a release, said Comfort is a career diplomat, having joined the Jamaican Foreign Service in 1981.

She has held the position of director of the Caribbean and Americas Department in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, since 2012. Her previous posts in the foreign service include deputy permanent representative of Jamaica to the United Nations in the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the United Nations (UN) in New York NY). She has also served previously on two occasions at the Jamaican High Commission in London, including as counsellor for economic affairs.

During her tenure at the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the UN, in New York, Comfort served as: chair of the Group of Latin American and the Caribbean Countries (GRULAC); acting permanent representative to the UN; a member of the UN Credentials Committee, as well as vice-chair of the UN Committee on Conferences.

“Comfort’s wealth of bilateral, regional and multilateral experience will redound well for Jamaica-South Africa relations and do much to move us further along that collaborative trajectory,” noted Johnson Smith.

The career diplomat graduated from the University of Westminster, London with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in the Social Sciences. She also has a Master of Science (MSc) in Economics from Birkbeck College, University of London and other specialised training in diplomacy and public sector management.

The High Commissioner-designate is married and has two daughters. She will assume duties in Pretoria in mid-May 2018.