Sumi Shigeki

Shigeki SUMI is the Ambassador of Japan to Ukraine since October 2014. He began his professional career in April 1977, when he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. There he worked at the Foreign Policy Bureau, first as the Policy Coordinator (Aug 1993) and later as the Director of International Peace Cooperation Division (Feb 1994). Then, he was the Director of Oceania Division at the European and Oceania Affairs Bureau (Feb 1996). In August 1997, he was appointed as a Counselor at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Geneva. From July 2000, he was a Counselor and later from January 2001, he was the Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Thailand. In May 2003, Ambassador Sumi was a Deputy Director-General at the Multilateral Cooperation Division. In September 2005, he was appointed as the Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna, while serving as a Board Member of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. In August 2008, he became the Head of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations. Three years later, he was appointed as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Bahrain. Prior to transfer to Ukraine, during 2009-2011 and 2013-2014, he was a Member of UN Committee on Contributions. For his international work, Ambassador Sumi received numerous recognitions including the First Class Order of Crown of Thailand in 2003, the First Class Order of Bahrain in 2013, and a Medal of Honor by Order of Moldova in 2016. In March 1977, he graduated from Faculty of Commerce and Management at the Hitotsubashi University. In July 1980, he received a Diploma of Social Studies from Oxford University. Ambassador Sumi was born in Yokohama, Japan, on June 13th, 1953.