The Washington Diplomat

Appointments - November 2008

Azerbaijan
Kamala Mammadova assumed the position of third secretary on Sept. 20.

Bahrain
Houda Nonoo become ambassador of Bahrain to the United States on July 24, becoming the Arab world’s first Jewish woman to serve as ambassador to the United States. Her grandfather, Ibrahim Nonoo, represented the Jewish community in Bahrain’s municipal council formed by the British authorities in 1934. Ambassador Nonoo followed in the footsteps of her cousin, Ibrahim Nonoo, when she was appointed in 2006 by the king to the Shura (consultative) Council, the upper chamber of Parliament, serving on the Committee for Finance and Economic Affairs. Ambassador Nonoo also helped to establish the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) in November 2004 and was elected the group’s general-secretary in September 2005. In addition, Ambassador Nonoo served as the financial director of Gourmet and Jetflair International in the United Kingdom, and since 1993, she was the managing director of Gulf Computer Services in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Ambassador Nonoo received her master’s in business administration from the International University of Europe in Waterford, U.K., and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the City of London Polytechnic. She is married and has two teenage sons.

Estonia
Aap Neljas assumed the position of first secretary (political) on Aug. 29.

Jonatan Vseviov departed the post of third secretary (political) on Aug. 28.

Ireland
Laurence Simms assumed the position of economic officer in August, replacing Tim Doyle.

Netherlands
Renée Jones-Bos became ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States on Aug. 21. Ambassador Jones-Bos — who joined the Foreign Service in 1981 — previously served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as director-general (2005-08) and deputy director-general (2003-05) for regional policy and consular affairs, ambassador-at-large for human rights (2000-03), security council coordinator (1998-2000), and head of recruitment and training (1990-94). In addition, she served in the Dutch Embassy in Prague as the deputy chief of mission (1994-98), as first secretary at the embassy in Washington, D.C. (1987-90), as well as postings at the embassies in Dhaka and Paramaribo (1982-87). Ambassador Jones-Bos was also a member of several boards, including the Netherlands Society for International Affairs (2001-08), and she worked as a translator in the late 1970s. Ambassador Jones-Bos earned a master’s of arts degree in Russian studies from the University of Sussex, U.K., as well as a licentiate in Russian and English studies and politics and economics from the University of Antwerp in Belgium. She speaks Dutch, English, German, French, Russian and some Italian, and she is married with two children.

Spain
Jose P. Marco assumed the position of deputy chief of mission.

Sri Lanka
Jaliya Wickramasuriya became ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States on July 18, having previously served consul general for Sri Lanka in California since 2005. Ambassador Wickramasuriya’s experience in the private sector began at Dilmah, Sri Lanka’s global tea brand, working his way up throughout the company, after which he spent a short time with another tea exporter in Sri Lanka, Standard Trading Co. In 2000, Ambassador Wickramasuriya created his own internationally recognized brand for Ceylon Tea by establishing Ceylon Royal Tea Pvt. Ltd. with its head office in the outskirts of Colombo, serving as the company’s chief executive officer and managing director and pushing Chami, his own brand of tea, to high-end markets in the U.S. and Canada. Born in 1960 in the deep south of Sri Lanka, Ambassador Wickramasuriya had his early education at the village school and completed his academic studies in Colombo.

United Arab Emirates
Yousef Al Otaiba became ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States and Mexico on July 25. Ambassador Al Otaiba previously served for seven years as director of international affairs for the Court of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, during which time he was a senior counselor to Gen. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces. In these roles, Ambassador Al Otaiba served as the UAE’s principal security, anti-terrorism and defense liaison to other governments, and he was heavily involved in diplomatic efforts to improve regional security and defense cooperation, which included enhancing the enforcement of export control laws and coordinating counter-proliferation activities with allies. Most recently, Ambassador Al Otaiba has helped to guide Abu Dhabi in multinational discussions on best practices for sovereign wealth funds — an extension of his efforts to promote trade relationships between the UAE and other nations. Ambassador Al Otaiba obtained a degree in international relations from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., after graduating from the Cairo American College. He also attended the Industrial College of the U.S. Armed Forces at the National Defense University in Washington as an international fellow.