Additional Foreign Secretary for Asia & Pacific Mumtaz Zahra Baloch was appointed as the Foreign Office spokesperson on Friday, according to a notification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
The notification, said that MOFA Director General (Strategic Communication Division) Saima Sayed would serve as the deputy spokesperson with immediate effect.
Baloch has over 20 years of experience in foreign affairs and has previously served as the South Korean ambassador, as well as performing duties in other countries such as the United States and China.
Meanwhile, her predecessor, Asim Iftikhar, set to become Pakistan’s ambassador to France, on Wednesday tweeted a picture of himself sharing his credentials with Director of State Protocol Philippe Franc upon the former’s arrival in Paris.
New spokesperson’s profile
Baloch has previously served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2020-2021, deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing from 2015-2020, counsellor for political affairs at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC from 2006-2011 and as the second secretary at the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations in Geneva from 1999- 2002.
At the FO, she has served as director (America), director (security council and human rights) and director (strategic planning) in the Office of the Foreign Secretary. During 2014-2015, she served as the director (academic programme) and later as director general of the Foreign Service Academy Islamabad.
Baloch holds a Master’s degree in Physics from Punjab University, a Master’s in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a degree from the prestigious Ecole Nationale d’ Administration in France.
