ISLAMABAD: Tehmina Janjua on Monday assumed charge as foreign secretary, becoming the first woman in the country to lead the foreign ministry as its top bureaucrat.

She is the 29th foreign secretary and succeeds Aizaz Chaudhry, who has been posted as ambassador to the United States.

Ms Janjua was appointed in February and was picked ahead of a number of senior officers.

She joined the foreign service in 1984 and has extensive experience of multilateral diplomacy.

Her foreign postings have been mostly at the United Nations in Geneva and New York. During her posting in Rome as an ambassador, she remained accredited to the FAO, IFAD and WFP.

She was last posted as Pakistan’s permanent representative at the UN in Geneva.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2017