Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh is currently serving as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States.

Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh is a career diplomat from Pakistan with over three decades of experience. Prior to the current assignment, he served as Additional Foreign Secretary for Middle East (ME), Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and Economic Diplomacy (ED) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad from December 2022-August 2024. Ambassador Sheikh was Pakistan’s first Permanent Representative to OIC- at the head of a pioneering act in the country’s diplomatic history. He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC for over 4 years (August 2015-November 2019). Before joining the Embassy in Washington DC, Ambassador Sheikh served as Joint Secretary at the National Security Division, Islamabad where he was primarily engaged in drafting Pakistan’s first National Security Policy. Earlier, he was deputed to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), General Secretariat, Jeddah and served for around five years as Secretary General’s spokesman/Executive Director OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC).

Being the first designated spokesman in the four decades long history of the Organization, he advocated OIC positions and promoted its image at important for a including National Press Club in Washington DC, Wilton Park in London, German Bundestage in Berlin, UN Press Centres/Offices/Bodies in New York and Geneva and a host of other think-tanks, universities and national and international institutions in both the west and the Muslim world. As part of the Secretary General’s core team and the focal point at OIC on Human Rights and dialogue with the west, Ambassador Sheikh lead-from finalizing the Statute to operationalization – the pioneering effort that established OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) – in half the stipulated time – through a transparent, inclusive and credible process widely acknowledged by the relevant international Human Right bodies including the Office of Geneva based High Commissioner for Human Rights.

As a diplomat in the Foreign Service of Pakistan, Ambassador Sheikh has diversified experience, with particular reference to multilateral diplomacy. In addition to his participation in a number of multilateral processes on subjects including globalization, international trade, health, intellectual property and Human Rights, he has been the lead negotiator on behalf of groups like NAM and G-77 and China in over twenty multilateral negotiations- particularly during his tenure as a member of Pakistan’s Permanent   Mission to the UN in Geneva. He was the Chair of the Geneva chapter G-77 and China in the year 2006. Later, he moved to Jeddah as the first appointee against the newly created OIC specific post at the Pakistan Mission. As Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to OIC, Ambassador Sheikh led the inter-governmental negotiations that finalized the new OIC Charter during Pakistan’s Chairmanship of OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in 2007-08. He moved to the OIC General Secretariat on deputation in 2009. Earlier, his career, he served on important positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pakistan including the UN, the US and the South Asia Divisions.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Sheikh started his career as a Banker. He has been a broadcaster and has wide ranging experience as a public speaker and panelist at prestigious academic institutions – including Harvard, Tufts and Emory Universities – and international fora including UN Human Rights Council, South Center, Lisbon Forum etc.

Ambassador Sheikh is married and has three children.