UAE consents to Tirmizi as Pak envoy

ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday formally consented to senior Additional Foreign Secretary Ambassador Faisal Niaz Tirmizi as Ambassador of Pakistan to the UAE.

The ‘agrément’ has been received by the Foreign Office.

Ambassador Faisal Niaz Tirmizi belongs to the Pakistan Foreign Service (PFS) and had earlier served as envoy to Kyrgyzstan for about four years. He played an important role in strengthening Pakistan’s ties with Kyrgyzstan.

He replaced Afzaal Mahmood, who has been relieved of the assignment after attaining superannuation.

In another significant development, outgoing Ambassador of Pakistan to Turkey Dr Syrus Sajjad Qazi, tipped as next Foreign Secretary, has returned home and likely to assume the new assignment in a couple of days.

The board for consideration of the grade would take place early next month. Dr Yousaf Junaid has assumed the post of Pakistan’s new ambassador for Turkey in Ankara. He is from the Trade and Commerce Group and served as Pakistan’s Consul General in Istanbul for eighteen consecutive years till December 2017.

Diplomatic sources told The News here Saturday that Pakistan’s new Ambassador to the UAE Faisal Niaz Tirmizi would leave for Abu Dhabi next month.

Tirmizi joined the Foreign Service in 1993 and has handled bilateral, multilateral, consular and administrative assignments both at the headquarters and abroad. A post graduate of the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Desk Officer of Middle East, Central Asia, Afghanistan, India as well as Director of Personnel, Protocol and Foreign Secretary’s Office. He has held various diplomatic assignments in Pakistan Missions abroad in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (1996-1999), Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland (2003-2007) and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2007-2010). Faisal Tirmizi has also given numerous talks on global and regional issues at important think-tanks and universities, including Chicago Council on Global Affairs, University of Michigan (Ann-Arbor), Purdue University (Calumet), Valparaiso University (Indiana), and United States Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs).

Presently, he is serving as Consul General of Pakistan, Chicago (USA) since September 2013. Currently, he has been holding dual charge of Additional Secretary (Administration/A&C/OP) and Additional Secretary for Americas.