ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has appointed Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad as the country’s 34th foreign secretary, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced this week, as his predecessor Amna Baloch retires from government service.

Ahmad, 59, is currently serving as Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), where he represents Islamabad’s interests at the global body and the Security Council. Over the past couple of years, Ahmad has presented Pakistan’s stance on several global issues such as the United States (US)-Iran war, Israel’s war on Gaza, the Kashmir dispute and other international developments.

A foreign secretary is a senior minister who oversees the state’s foreign policy and diplomacy, crucial for international relations and negotiations. Ahmad will take over from Baloch, who will retire from government service on Sept. 17. She was appointed as Pakistan’s 33rd foreign secretary, the second woman in the country to secure the post, on Sept. 11, 2024.

“I am confident that, under Ambassador Asim’s leadership, the Foreign Office will continue to advance Pakistan’s interests with clarity, professionalism and purpose, building on the important work undertaken by Ambassador Amna Baloch and all her predecessors,” Dar wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday.

Dar said Baloch will assume charge after her retirement as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Türkiye.

“I am further pleased to share that the Honorable Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has kindly approved the aforesaid assignments,” he wrote.

Ahmad is a career diplomat who joined the foreign service of Pakistan in 1993. Since then, he has held various positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in Pakistan Missions abroad. Before he was appointed as Pakistan’s envoy to the UN, Ahmad served as the additional secretary for UN and Economic Diplomacy from March to November 2022.

From August 2021 to November 2022, he served as the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ahmad is a graduate of the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, from where he secured his bachelor’s in science degree in the electrical engineering discipline.