The Washington Diplomat

Appointments - July 2009

Austria
Christian Prosl was appointed ambassador of Austria to the United States on May 26. Ambassador Prosl’s previous assignments included postings in London, Los Angeles and Vienna. After serving in the Austrian Army Special Forces, he continued his studies and joined the Austrian Foreign Ministry in 1977. Ambassador Prosl earned a doctorate law degree (doctor iuris) in 1969 from the University of Vienna.

Costa Rica
Luis Diego Escalante became ambassador of Costa Rica to the United States on May 14, bringing to the position more than 40 years of business and political experience. During the first presidential administration of Oscar Arias Sánchez (1986-90), Ambassador Escalante was the head of various ministries, among them the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce, and the Ministry of Foreign Trade, in addition to serving as head of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute. He was also advisor to President José María Figueres (1994-98) and led the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (ICAFE). A member of the Executive Committee of Peace with Nature, Ambassador Escalante in 1996 co-founded CRUSA, a private Costa Rican foundation to promote sustainable development through U.S.-Costa Rican cooperation, serving as president of CRUSA’s Board of Directors from 2003 to 2009. He has also been an advisor to the Banco Popular of Puerto Rico and was president of ATH Costa Rica, an acquirer and supplier company of Visa. Ambassador Escalante began his professional career in the automobile industry, becoming partner and president of VEINSA, an importing and distributing company of Mitsubishi vehicles in Costa Rica (1969-97). He was also a partner and president of Cabo Rico S.A., a company that manufactures sailing boats for export (1975-86), as well as a founding partner and vice president of a Burger King franchise in Costa Rica, serving as president of the Association of Franchise Holders for Latin America until he retired in 1994. Ambassador Escalante studied business administration in Costa Rica and Britain. He is married to Cristina Dobles and has two daughters and four granddaughters.

Dominican Republic
Roberto B. Saladin became ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the United States on May 20, having previously served as ambassador in Washington from 1999 to 2002. Most recently, he served as alternate executive director representing the Dominican Republic and Mexico on the Board of Directors at the Inter-American Development Bank (2004-09), chief executive officer of Banco de Reservas, the largest commercial bank in the Dominican Republic (1996-99), and governor of the Central Bank and president of the Monetary Board (1987-89). A presidential candidate in 1990 with the support of the Christian Popular Party, Ambassador Saladin was also the Costa Rican secretary of state of finance (1986-87). In addition, he was one of the founders of the Dominican Export Promotion Center (CEDOPEX), an autonomous institution of the Dominican government, serving as its executive director in the early 1980s. Aside from his administration of financial institutions, Ambassador Saladin’s public sector experience includes postings as commercial attaché of the Dominican Embassy in Germany (where he was also chargé d’affaires), administrative secretary of the Dominican Republic’s Permanent Delegation for UNESCO, and representative at various international forums. He has also been a frequent guest speaker on television programs and a journal columnist, in addition to publishing two books on Banco de Reservas. A law graduate from the Universidad de Santo Domingo, Ambassador Saladin has been involved in academic programs in Germany, France, the United States and Japan. He speaks Spanish, English, French and German.

Malaysia
Nasreen Khanum Nawab Zadah Khan assumed the position of second secretary (trade) on June 1, having previously served as assistant director at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in Malaysia.

Poland
Jacek Jedruszak departed the post of counselor on May 31.

Serbia
Vladimir Petrovic became ambassador of Serbia to the United States on April 14. Up until 2002, Ambassador Petrovic worked for CARE – USA, as well as the American law firms of Pope, McGlamry, Kilpatrick & Morrison LLP, and Gray, Rust, St. Amand, Moffett & Brieske in Atlanta, Ga. He has also been involved in fundraising efforts for various democratic candidates and numerous campaigns in the United States. In 2002, after finishing the Democratic Campaign Management Program, he worked on the campaign of Joseph Moore for Chicago alderman, in addition to being the field director of the David Fink for Congress campaign. Ambassador Petrovic was also a member of the coordinated campaign that included Jennifer Granholm for governor and Carl Levin for senator, both from Michigan, as well as campaign manager for the Joseph Mario Moreno for Cicero town president mayoral race. In 2003, Ambassador Petrovic served as director of personnel for the Illinois Capital Development Board, later becoming deputy director of the Illinois Trade Office. Ambassador Petrovic returned to Serbia in 2007 to be a part of the newly elected government as a minister counselor in the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 2007, he became minister counselor and deputy chief of mission at the Serbian Embassy in Washington, serving as chargé d’affaires from February to October 2008. Ambassador Petrovic graduated from the Georgia State University with a bachelor’s degree in political sciences.

Slovenia
Roman Kirn was appointed ambassador of Slovenia to the United States on May 26. Ambassador Kirn most recently served as director of the Department for North and Latin America and the Caribbean for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and head of trans-Atlantic relations and preparations of the EU-U.S. Summit during Slovenia’s European Union presidency in June 2008. He was also Slovenia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York (2002-06) – during which time he was vice president of the U.N. General Assembly, vice president of the 2005 NPT Review Conference, among other positions – as well as ambassador and permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE; 2000-02). Ambassador Kirn began his diplomatic career at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1977, serving on the Committee on Foreign Relations of Slovenia in Ljubljana from 1978 to 1980. Ambassador Kirn rejoined the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1980 and served as first secretary at the Yugoslav Embassy in Burma, returning to Slovenia in 1984 to head up regional cooperation at the Committee on Foreign Affairs of Slovenia until 1990. After Slovenia gained its independence in 1991, Ambassador Kirn was appointed director of the Multilateral Relations Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1992 to 1996, he served as minister counselor at the Slovenian Embassy in the Czech Republic, after which he was appointed state undersecretary for multilateral affairs in the Foreign Ministry, dealing primarily with U.N.- and NATO-related issues. He was also a member to a number of Slovenian delegations at the U.N. General Assembly, head of delegation to the Ottawa process that negotiated the convention on the prohibition of anti-personnel landmines, and co-founder of the International Trust Fund for demining and mine-victims assistance Southeast Europe, in addition to leading Slovenia’s candidacy to the U.N. Security Council nonpermanent seat in 1997. Ambassador Kirn holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Ljubljana, and he speaks English, French, Czech and Serbo-Croatian. He is married to Jovana Kirn and has two children.