Tommy Koh

Professor Tommy Koh has enjoyed an illustrious career spanning almost 50 years as a leading Singaporean diplomat. He is an ambassador-at-large at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Emeritus Professor of Law at NUS; and chairman of the International Advisory Panel of the Centre for International Law at the NUS.

Prof Koh was Singapore’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 1968 to 1971, and again from 1974 to 1984. He was also high commissioner to Canada and ambassador to Mexico, as well as ambassador to the United States of America. Prof Koh was lead negotiator for the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement from 2000 to 2003, as well as the chief negotiator in the discussions to establish diplomatic relations between Singapore and China.

The holder of a first-class honours degree in law from the National University of Singapore, he was also founding chairman of the National Arts Council, in addition to being the founding executive director of the Asia-Europe Foundation and former chairman of the National Heritage Board.

Prof Koh has taught at various universities in the US and China, and received a multitude of awards from the governments of Singapore, Chile, Finland, France, Japan, Netherlands, Spain and the United States. He was bestowed with honorary doctoral degrees in law by Yale and Monash Universities, while Harvard University conferred on him the Great Negotiator Award in 2014.