Dubai: A senior Pakistani diplomat Afzaal Mahmood has joined as the new Pakistani Ambassador to the UAE. Mahmood who joined his office at the Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi on January 27, was earlier serving as Pakistan Ambassador in Bahrain. He has replaced Ghulam Dastgir who went back to Pakitan last year after retirement.
Diverse experience
According to Pakistan Embassy’s statement, Mahmood carries diverse experience of representing Pakistan at many international forums and in different parts of the world. His notable assignments include serving as Consul General Houston, United States from 2013-2016. He also served as Deputy/Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan in Bangladesh from 2009-2013.
Mahmood also represented Pakistan at the United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Human Settlements Program in Nairobi as Deputy Permanent Representative during 2004-2007.
Multilateral assignments
His other multilateral assignments included occasional representation at ASEAN, SAARC and Climate Change meetings in Indonesia, East Africa, Bangladesh and Germany.
During his tenures at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad, he looked after a range of assignments covering different continents. This includes Director General for Americas and Europe, Director, Deputy Director and Assistant Director for Iran-Turkey, Europe and South Asia.
Education
He graduated in Economics from the Government Post Graduate College, Chakwal and was trained in Turkish language at Ankara University, Turkey. The Ambassador speaks Turkish and Indonesian languages, in addition to Urdu, English and Punjabi.
