The Washington Diplomat

Appointments - January 2005

Azerbaijan
• Aygun Samedova departed the post of third secretary on Aug. 27.
• Aysel Yagubova assumed the position of attaché on Nov. 1. Yagubova previously served in the Human Rights, Democratization and Humanitarian Problems Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Costa Rica
• F. Tomás Dueñas became ambassador of Costa Rica to the United States on Dec. 9. Ambassador Dueñas previously served as chief executive officer of ESCO InterAmerica, chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Costa Rica Investment and Development Bank, a fellow at the Aspen Institute Leadership Program, and chairman of directors at Procomer. In addition, Ambassador Dueñas was Costa Rica’s minister of economics in 2000, as well as the minister of foreign trade (2000-02), during which time he was also a member of the Economic Council of the Costa Rican government. He is a member of the Board of Directors of La Nación, Costa Rica’s largest newspaper and publishing group, and he served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Costa Rican Central Bank Museums. Ambassador Dueñas has been a staunch proponent of Costa Rica’s political and economic openness to the international community, serving as vice chairman of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Meeting at Doha in 2001 and as Costa Rica’s chief negotiating minister for a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, as well as various other free trade agreements. He is also credited with initiating the process that led to the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Ambassador Dueñas earned a degree in business administration from the University of Miami , after which he studied at the University of Columbia, Stanford and University of Pennsylvania. Ambassador Dueñas is married to Diana Chavarría, a graduate of the University of Costa Rica Law School.

European Union
• John Bruton became ambassador of the European Union to the United States on Dec. 9. Ambassador Bruton is a former Irish prime minister (1994-97), during which time he helped transform the Irish economy into the “Celtic Tiger,” one of the fastest growing economies in the world. He was also deeply involved in the Northern Irish Peace Process that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. As prime minister, he also presided over a successful Irish EU presidency in 1996 and helped finalize the Stability and Growth Pact that governs the management of the single European currency, the euro. In addition, Ambassador Bruton served as a leading member of the caucus that drafted the first-ever European Constitution. He was first elected to the Irish Parliament in 1969 at the age of 22 as a member of the Fine Gael Party, becoming party leader in 1990 and leading it to victory in 1994. He previously served as Ireland’s minister of finance (1981-82 and 1986-87), minister of industry and energy (1982-83), and minister of trade, commerce and tourism (1983-86). Ambassador Bruton graduated from University College Dublin with a bachelor’s degree before studying to become a barrister. He is married to Finola Bruton and has four children.

Ghana
• Fritz Kwabena Poku became ambassador of Ghana to the United States on Sept. 15. He holds concurrent accreditation to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Haiti and the Bahamas. A career diplomat with more than 30 years of experience working in Africa, Europe and America, Ambassador Poku, who is also a barrister, previously served as ambassador and permanent representative of the Ghana Mission to the United Nations and other international organizations such as the World Trade Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Industrial Development Organization. In addition, he served as ambassador to Ethiopia and Ghana’s permanent representative to the Organization of African Unity and the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa. Concurrent accredited countries to this position included Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti and Eritrea. Ambassador Poku was a member of ministerial delegations to meetings and conferences of the British Commonwealth, the United Nations and the African Union. When not assigned to a post abroad, Ambassador Poku also served various positions in Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he joined in 1970, including director of international organizations and conferences, supervising director in the areas of policy planning, research, protocol, and information and culture, as well as chief of protocol. Ambassador Poku studied at Ghana’s Adisadel College, the University of Ghana, where he graduated with honors in French, as well as the University of Abidjan, the Ghana Institute of Public Administration and Management, and the Ghana School of Law. He is married with four children.

Jamaica
• Shorna-Kay Richards departed the post of counselor on Aug. 31.

Panama
• Federico A. Humbert became ambassador of Panama to the United States on Dec. 9. From 1982 to 2004, Ambassador Humbert served as president and chief executive officer of Cía. de Mariscos Islas de las Perlas (Pearl Island Seafood Corp.), Cía. de Materiales Islas de las Perlas, which handled fishing equipment and parts retail for Pearl Corp., and Panama Trucking Corp. (1990-2004). In addition, he was president of Corporación La Prensa (1996-2004) and Corporación Industrial Pesquera (1984-2004), as well as director for Grupo Banco General, Astillero Nacional and Servicios Vacamonte. Ambassador Humbert holds a bachelor’s of sciences and letters degree from Colegio de La Salle, Ciudad de Panama, and a bachelor’s of business administration degree from the University of Notre Dame. He is married to Daphne R. de Humbert and has four children.

Pakistan
• Jehangir Karamat became ambassador of Pakistan to the United States on Dec. 9. Ambassador Karamat retired as Pakistan’s chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff and chief of Army staff in October 1998. His senior-level assignments included director general of military operations, chief of the General Staff, and colonel commandment and colonel-in-chief for the Pakistan Armored Corps. He has also commanded troops in Saudi Arabia. Ambassador Karamat has been a visiting fellow at the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), Stanford University and the Brookings Institute. In addition, he was part of the U.N. study on Afghanistan and chairman of the Board of Governors of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. Ambassador Karamat is a graduate of National Defense College, the Command and Staff College, and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He also holds a master’s degree in international relations.

Romania
• Daniela Gitman assumed the position of deputy chief of mission on Aug. 24, replacing Stelian Stoian. Gitman previously served as director of the Europe Department, dealing with Romania’s accession to the European Union and bilateral relations with EU member states, Turkey, Switzerland, Norway and Bulgaria. Gitman has also served in the Romanian Embassy in the Hague and the Department for Western Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Alina Huszar assumed the position of third secretary on Sept. 27, replacing Cristina Gaginsky, who departed the post on July 31 to become the deputy director of the NATO Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Huszar previously served as a U.S. desk officer for economic affairs at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2002-04). Huszar holds a bachelor’s degree in international economics with postgraduate studies in European integration and diplomacy.
• Ilinca Ilie assumed the position of third secretary for press and cultural affairs on Nov. 4. Ilie previously served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as chief of the Spokesperson Office in the Press and Public Relations Department.

Slovenia
• Samuel Zbogar became ambassador of Slovenia to the United States on Sept. 15. Ambassador Zbogar previously served as head of task force for Slovenia’s Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) presidency in 2005, as well as deputy to the U.N. Security Council (1998-99), minister plenipotentiary and deputy permanent representative of the Slovenian Mission to the United Nations (1997-2001), and various positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including counselor, state undersecretary, director of the Department for Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific, counselor to the minister and secretary in the Office of the Secretary-General, and third secretary in the Department for Neighboring Countries. In addition, he was the chargé d’affaires and first secretary at the Slovenian Embassy in China, secretary at the Slovenian Representative Office to the Monitoring Mission of the European Community in Zagreb, adviser to the Department for Neighboring Countries in the Republican Committee for International Cooperation i n Ljubljana, and secretary to the Slovenian Delegation at the International Conference on Former Yugoslavia. Ambassador Zbogar holds a bachelors’ degree in political sciences and international relations, and speaks English, Italian, Croatian, Serbian and French.