ABU DHABI — Afzaal Mahmood has joined as the ambassador of Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates, the embassy of Pakistan in Abu Dhabi said on Wednesday. He was the ambassador of Pakistan in Bahrain before taking up his new role in Abu Dhabi. Mahmood carries the diverse experience of representing Pakistan at many international forums and in different parts of the world. His notable assignments include serving as consul general Houston, the United States from 2013-2016. Before that, he served as deputy/acting high commissioner of Pakistan in Bangladesh from 2009-2013. Afzaal Mahmood also represented Pakistan at the United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Human Settlements Programme in Nairobi as Deputy Permanent Representative during 2004-2007. His other multilateral assignments included occasional representation at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and Climate Change meetings in Indonesia, East Africa, Bangladesh, and Germany. During his tenures at the ministry of foreign affairs, Islamabad, he has looked after a variety of assignments covering different continents. This includes director-general for Americas and Europe, director, deputy director, and assistant director for Iran-Turkey, Europe, and South Asia. He graduated in Economics from the Government Post Graduate College, Chakwal, and was trained in the Turkish language at Ankara University, Turkey. The ambassador speaks Turkish and Indonesian languages, in addition to Urdu, English, and Punjabi. — WAM