Ambassador Masood Khan is currently serving as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States.
He was the President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir from August 2016 to August 2021.
Immediately before becoming the President he was the Director General of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, one of the top think tanks in Pakistan.
Ambassador Masood Khan had a distinguished diplomatic career. Most notably, he served as:
- Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2005;
- Pakistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2005 to 2008;
- Pakistan’s Ambassador to China from 2008 to 2012; and
- Pakistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Headquarters, New York, from 2012 to 2015.
In his earlier diplomatic career, he held important diplomatic positions in China, The Netherlands, United Nations (New York) and the USA (Washington D.C. from 1997 to 2002).
Over the years, he has also held leadership positions in the international community which include:
- President of the Conference on Disarmament,
- Chairman of the Committee on Internet Governance of the 2005 World Summit for Information Society.
- President of the Biological Weapons Review Conference 2006,
- President of the Governmental Group of the International Labour Organization (ILO),
- Chairman of the ILO Reform Committee,
- Chairman of the Council of the International Organization for Migration
- Chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Geneva.
- Chairman of the Group of 77 and China.
In New York, Ambassador Khan represented Pakistan as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council from 2012 to 2013 and became the President of the Security Council in January 2013.
While in New York, he was also the
- Vice President of the Economic and Social Council,
- Vice President of the UN General Assembly and
- President of the Executive Board of UNICEF.
Ambassador Masood Khan also remained Pakistan’s Chief Negotiator (Sherpa) for the US-led Nuclear Security Summits, from 2009 to 2015.
In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has served as Director General United Nations, Director General Nuclear Disarmament, Director General Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Director General East Asia and Pacific. Earlier, he was Director Secretary General’s Office and Director International Conferences.
His areas of specialization include nuclear diplomacy, South Asia, Pak-China relations, Pak-US relations, e-governance, multilateral diplomacy and international humanitarian law, among others.
He has spoken at prestigious universities and think tanks in the US, the UK, Europe, the Gulf region, China and South East Asia.
He has also led scores of Pakistani delegations to international conferences.
Before joining the Foreign Service he was a lecturer in English, a Pakistan Television host and a radio newscaster.
