NEW YORK — The new Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, Ambassador Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Wasil, presented his credentials to Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday. Ambassador Al-Wasil conveyed the greetings of the leadership of Saudi Arabia to the UN Secretary-General, who wished him every success during his second term of office. During the meeting, aspects of close cooperation and partnership binding the Kingdom and the United Nations and ways of enhancing work between them in a way that serves the joint interests were reviewed. The Permanent Mission of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations and international organizations in Geneva recently held a farewell party for the Permanent Representative, Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Wasil, on the occasion of the end of his term in Geneva. It was attended by heads and representatives of diplomatic missions in Geneva, and civil society figures. Dr. Al-Wasil gave a speech in which he valued the participation of the attendees, which reflected the bonds of the distinguished relations between Saudi Arabia and the countries and organizations participating in its multilateral and bilateral framework. He concluded his speech by thanking his colleagues for their efforts to make his mission a success during his tenure in Geneva. Dr. Al-Wasil holds a bachelor's degree from Saudi Arabia, a master's degree from the US, and a Ph.D. in political science and international relations from the Australian National University in Canberra. He has published some articles in both Arabic and English related to social and political issues. He joined the diplomatic corps in 1999, and started work in the Department of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh. Two years later, he moved to the Saudi Embassy in the Australian capital, Canberra, and gained experience in the fields of work in the embassy, including assuming the duties of the chargé d'affaires. Dr. Al-Wasil returned to the Ministry's headquarters from Australia in 2007, to work in a multilateral framework, specifically in the field of human rights at the Deputy Ministry for Multilateral Relations. He then moved to the Permanent Mission of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in Geneva, where he took over the human rights file. From Geneva, Al-Wasil moved to the Saudi Embassy in London, and was assigned to work as deputy chief of mission. He stayed there until a decision was issued to appoint him as the ambassador and permanent representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in Geneva in 2016.
