Profile

Ambassador Rena Lee is a dedicated and seasoned practitioner of international law, at the international and national level, serving as a government legal advisor, diplomat and international negotiator. She was appointed Ambassador for International Law in 2023, and prior to that, served as Ambassador for Oceans and Law of the Sea Issues and Special Envoy of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. In the latter role, she was elected as President of the United Nations Intergovernmental Conference on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), where she presided over complex negotiations over five years which successfully culminated in the adoption, by consensus, of a landmark international agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. She was also elected and served as a member of the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority from 2017 to 2022.

Ambassador Lee’s public international law practice includes advising the Singapore Government for more than three decades, both with the International Affairs Division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Defence. She has broad expertise over a wide range of international law matters, including law of the sea, climate change and environmental law, international humanitarian law, and human rights law.

Ambassador Lee is a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.