New York (TDI): Pakistan’s new Permanent Representative to the country’s Mission to the United Nations has presented his credentials to the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
Representative-designate, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, has now officially taken over, replacing Ambassador Asim Munir – the two time Permanent Representative at the UN.
Asim Munir’s term ended on 31st March and for a smooth transition, Asim Iftikhar Ahmed was already in New York for a few months now.
Before presenting credentials, he has been delivering Pakistan’s official statements during various UN sessions and discussions.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad Takes Over as Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad has taken over as Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He presented his credentials to UN Secretary General H.E. Antonio Guterres… pic.twitter.com/gpSjb1rQkp
— Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN (@PakistanUN_NY) April 2, 2025
Ambassador Asim has a diplomatic career spanning over three decades, since he joined Foreign Service in 1993.
He has been a Permanent Delegate at UNESCO as well as the Spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs from August 2021 to November 2022.
Ambassador Asim has been a part of the United Nations Security Council team twice; once in 2003-2004 and again in 2012-2013 when he was also Pakistan’s Political Coordinator in the Council.
After serving in important front-line leadership roles at MoFA, he mostly remained active in multilateral fora and represented Pakistan in major Summits and Conferences including the African Union, OIC, NAM, ASEAN and ASEM as well as UN General Assembly’s Annual Sessions from 2003-2008, 2011-2016 & 2022.
He also represented Pakistan in the Mission of the Security Council to West Africa (June-July 2003), Mission of the Security Council Sanctions Committee concerning Somalia (November 2003), Extraordinary Meeting of the Security Council held in Nairobi on Sudan and Somalia (November 2004), and the Security Council Mission to the Great Lakes Region in October 2013.
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His first diplomatic assignment was in Niamey, Niger (1997-2000) and later on he also served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Thailand from 2017 to 2021.
After presenting his credentials to the UNSG, Ambassador Asim reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast commitment to multilateralism and the principles of the UN Charter.
Secretary-General Guterres congratulated him on assuming this new role and extended his best wishes for a successful tenure.
Ambassador Asim was born in Lahore on 27 November 1966 and is a graduate of the University of Engineering and Technology and the University of the Punjab, Lahore. He was gold medalist during both of these higher education degrees.
Nuzhat Rana is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
