Sooroojdev Phokeer is a politician and

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

from

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

who previously served as Speaker of the National Assembly of Mauritius. He has been served as Ambassador to the United States from 2015 to 2019 and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

during 2001.

Early life

Phokeer was born in 1951. He grew up in a family of nine children and his father was a civil servant at the Ministry of Works. He received his secondary education at Bhujoharry College in

Port Louis Port Louis (, ; or , ) is the capital and most populous city of Mauritius, mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's financial and political centre. It is admi ...

, and he later worked at the same school as a teacher of economics.

Political career

In 1983 Phokeer joined the MSM. Eight years later he was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1991. When the MSM returned to government as part of the

MSM/MMM The Militant Socialist Movement/Mauritian Militant Movement (MSM/MMM) is coalition party that formed the government of the Republic of Mauritius from September 2000 to July 2005. The coalition has been reformed in April 2012 after an electoral ag ...

coalition in 2000 Phokeer was appointed as ambassador in Egypt. After 4 years as ambassador then Prime Minister

Paul Bérenger Paul Raymond Bérenger (born 26 March 1945) is a Mauritian politician who served as the fourth prime minister of Mauritius from 2003 to 2005. Bérenger currently serves as deputy prime minister since November 2024 and has previously held the o ...

sacked Phokeer over serious misconduct in

. However, Bérenger appointed Phokeer as an adviser within his government soon after Phokeer's repatriation to Mauritius in 2004. At the 2005 general elections the MSM was defeated and this prompted Phokeer to travel to England to study law at the University of Huddersfield. Soon after its return to government following the 2014 general elections the MSM appointed Phokeer as ambassador of Mauritius in the United States of America. After the 2019 general elections Phokeer replaced Maya Hanoomanjee as Speaker of the National Assembly, after actively supporting the MSM's campaign in Constituency No. 8 Moka-Quartier Militaire. He resigned from the Speakership and was later succeeded by Adrien Duval.

References

Living people 1951 births Mauritian politicians of Indian descent Speakers of the National Assembly (Mauritius) Members of the National Assembly (Mauritius) Militant Socialist Movement politicians Mauritian Hindus Mauritian diplomats Ambassadors of Mauritius to the United States Ambassadors of Mauritius to Egypt {{Mauritius-politician-stub