The Permanent Mission of Guyana said goodbye on Thursday, 22 June to Ambassador Troy Torrington at a well-attended luncheon held in his honour on the eve of his departure to take up his new post as Head of the Department of Multilateral and Global Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to staff of the Mission and Consulate-General of Guyana in New York, attendees included the Ambassadors or representatives of the 14 Caribbean States that comprise the CARICOM Caucus, Guyanese staffers at the United Nations and a large turnout of non-CARICOM Ambassadors, diplomatic representatives and Secretariat officials with whom Ambassador Torrington worked and interacted during his 12-year posting at the Permanent Mission of Guyana to the United Nations. Members of the Ambassador's family, including his mother, were also present.

Ambassador Torrington, who was promoted to the rank of Principal Foreign Service Officer I in January 2017, joined the Guyana Diplomatic Service in 1996 as a Desk Officer. He was assigned to the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in 2005 as a First Secretary and was promoted to Minister Counsellor and Head of Chancery in 2013. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Guyana where he copped  the Vice Chancellor's Special Award and the Council of the University Prize for Best All Round Graduating Student. He also earned an Advanced Diploma in International Relations from the University of the West Indies and is the proud holder of both a Diploma in Agriculture from the Guyana School of Agriculture and a Certificate in the Foreign Relations of China from the Foreign Affairs College of China in Beijing. While a desk officer at Headquarters, he served as Personal Assistant to both the Director General of the Ministry and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Ambassador Torrington was held in high regard by his peers at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for, inter alia, his work as facilitator and coordinator of negotiations on external debt management, the New Global Human Order and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A committed Christian, Ambassador Torrington is an ordained deacon in the Seventh Day Adventist Church and a member of the Executive Committee of the Church in Guyana.

In his remarks, the Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations, Ambassador Michael Ten-Pow, lauded Ambassador Torrington for his commitment to excellence, his professionalism and his willingness to share his extensive knowledge and experience with colleagues both in and outside the Mission. He himself had benefited greatly from Ambassador Torrington's long experience as a member of the Mission staff and owed a special debt of gratitude to him for the assistance he provided during the Permanent Representative's transition into his new job. Ambassador Torrington's reassignment to Georgetown would strengthen the Ministry as a whole and the Mission would continue to benefit from his experience. Consul-General Barbara Atherly lauded Ambassador Torrington for his excellent work as a member of the Mission staff and expressed confidence that his work would continue to speak for itself. Numerous other attendees, including the Permanent Representative of Tanzania and Minister Counsellor Olney Daly on behalf of the Mission staff, took the floor to share their experiences of working with Ambassador Torrington and to wish him success in his new assignment. 

Ambassador Torrington, in his response, thanked all those who had come out to say goodbye. He urged staff of the Mission to remain engaged and committed to their work in advancing the interests of Guyana through the United Nations. He assured staff of the Mission that he would continue his contribution to the work of the Mission in his new capacity. Ambassador Torrington was presented with a gift from the Mission staff by Attache Samantha Hodges and another from the staff of the Consulate-General by the Consul-General Barbara Atherly.