Mr. Ransford Smith is the new Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Secretariat. His role involves overseeing economic and social development affairs.
The new Deputy Secretary-General is a career diplomat of nearly 30 years' standing in the Jamaican Public and Foreign Service. He previously served as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Commerce and Technology, and also Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Industry and Investment. His diplomatic career has included postings at the Jamaican Embassy in Washington DC, as well as the Jamaican Mission to the United Nations in New York.
Mr. Smith is the first Jamaican to serve as a Commonwealth Deputy-Secretary General. He was formerly the Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the Office of the United Nations and its specialised agencies in Geneva, Rome and Vienna. Mr. Smith was also Ambassador of Jamaica to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and served as Ambassador to a number of European countries.
Mr. Smith, who succeeded Mr. Winston Cox of Barbados as Deputy Secretary-General, stated he intends to continue to extend and deepen the scope of the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) which is managed by the Secretariat under his leadership. He said the CFTC has been making a valuable contribution to the development needs of member states in international trade; enterprise development; investment, including the development of natural resources; debt management; public sector reform; health and education; as well as gender equality.