BARRETT SALATO– the man tipped by Solomon Star to be our next Ambassador to China – is now a certainty.
One government minister on Wednesday said Mr Salato is the man.
Salato’s appointment was to be formally announced before the Prime Minister’s visit to China, but time has caught up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade in formally announcing the appointment.
Mr Salato is our Trade Commissioner as well as the Director of Trade in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade.
Apart from being a Minister Counsellor and Chargè d’affaires a.i at the Permanent Mission of Solomon Islands in Geneva, Switzerland, Salato was also Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Solomon Islands in Geneva.
Salato’s appointment puts him in second placing as Solomon Islands Ambassador since Solomon Islands and China established diplomatic relations in September 2019.
He was not taking calls when Solomon Star called him yesterday afternoon. It is not clear when Salato, from Western Province, will take up his appointment.
The nation’s first ambassador to China, John Moffat Fugui, died in Office on 22 December 2022, of cardiac arrest, at the age of 61 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fugui was the seventh foreign diplomat in China to die in two years, according to news reports.
By Alfred Sasako
