• Yasser Shaheen assumed the position of deputy chief of mission on June 3, replacing Sheikh Abdullah Ahmed Al-Khalifa.

Bulgaria
• Vladimir Moutafov departed the post of political and economic counselor on Sept. 30 after three years of service. Moutafov, who previously served postings in the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and the Hague, is taking a one-year sabbatical to write a book on Bulgaria and the Holocaust.

Ecuador
• Raul Gangotena Rivadeneira became ambassador of Ecuador to the United States on Sept. 8. Ambassador Gangotena previously served as executive director of the Quito Chamber of Commerce (2001-03), chief executive officer of the Metrozona free trade zone in Quito (2000-01), and a member of the Presidential Commission for the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (2000-02) as well the Ecuadorian Fulbright Commission Chapter Board (ongoing since 2000). In addition, he was the executive director of the National Modernization Council in Quito (1997-98), chief of staff to President Sixto Durán-Ballén (1996), presidential delegate to the Monetary Reserve Board (1994-96), and chief executive officer of the National Pre-Investment Fund Fonapre (1980-84). Ambassador Gangotena has also held various private-sector posts, including being a columnist for the Hoy, El Comercio and El Universo daily newspapers, chairman of Quimasoc Co. and the Nuevas Fronteras travel agency (1990-98) as well as the Universidad de Las Américas (1998-2000) and the Chicos de la Calle Foundation (1989-92), finance manager of Palmoriente Agro Industries (1987-8 9), chief executive officer of Cofiandina Consultants (1984-87), and a professor at the San Francisco de Quito University (1994-97) and the National Polytechnic School in Quito (1976-94). Ambassador Gangotena, a former Fulbright Scholar, holds an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the National Polytechnic School and a master’s of business administration degree from the University of New Mexico. He is married with four children.

Estonia
• Jüri Luik became ambassador of Estonia to the United States on Sept. 8. Ambassador Luik previously served as ambassador to the Benelux countries and NATO from 1996 to 1999. More recently, he held posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a counselor in NATO and security policy matters and as head of his government delegation in accession talks with NATO (2002-03), as well as director general of the Political Department (1992). In addition, Ambassador Luik served as the Estonian minister of defense (1999-2002), minister of foreign affairs (1994-95), and a member of Parliament (1992). In the early 1990s, he was also a reporter for the Estonian Institute and editor of the month journal Vikerkaar. Ambassador Luik graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Tartu, and he conducted postgraduate research at the Carnegie Institute. He is married with one child.

Papua New Guinea
• Evan Jeremy Paki became ambassador of Papua New Guinea to the United States on Sept. 8. Prior to his current appointment, Ambassador Paki served part time as a special advisor to the Office of the Prime Minister, advising the Papua New Guinea government on the country’s political and economic relations with North America, with a special focus on investment, as well as legal issues. During that time, Ambassador Paki also practiced law with a firm in Port Moresby. Prior to that, he practiced as a banking and finance lawyer for three years at the Sydney office of the U.S.-based international law firm Baker & McKenzie following a stint at the Washington, D.C.-based Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. In addition, he taught as a visiting law lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1999. A former Fulbright Scholar, Ambassador Paki holds a master’s of law degree from Harvard Law School and a bachelor’s of law degree with honors from the University of Papua New Guinea. At 30, Ambassador Paki is the youngest diplomat to serve his country.

United Kingdom
• Sir David Manning became ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United States on Sept. 8. Ambassador Manning, who joined the Foreign Service in 1972, has held various postings in Warsaw, New Delhi, Paris, Moscow, Tel Aviv and Brussels. In 2000, he became the U.K. permanent representative to NATO and foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair, a position he held until his current appointment. In 1994, Ambassador Manning also served as the British member of the ICTY Contact Group on Bosnia. Three years ago, he was made knight commander, Order of St. Michael and St. George. Ambassador Manning read history at Oriel College, Oxford, after which he spent a year at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy. He is married to Catherine, a novelist.