Azerbaijan

Emin Ibrahimov assumed the position of third secretary on Feb. 10, 2012.

Ibrahimov joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2007 and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in international relations.

Rashad Najaf assumed the position of first secretary on Feb. 1, having previously worked at the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.

Konul Suleymanli assumed the position of third secretary on Jan. 1, replacing Kamilla Mammadova, who departed the post Nov. 10. Suleymanli joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2008 and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in international relations.

Chile

Felipe Bulnes was appointed ambassador of Chile to the United States in April 2012.

Ambassador Bulnes most recently served as Chile’s minister of education (2011) and minister of justice (2010-11). He also previously served as a member of the Political Commission of the Renovación Nacional Party elected for three successive periods (2001-2010), and director of the Law and Justice Chapter of the Grupos Tantaucos organization, in charge of preparing the presidential program of then-candidate Sebastián Piñera (2008-10). In addition, he is a top-ranked litigation lawyer who has worked for several well-known law firms in Chile, his latest position being senior partner with Bulnes, Pellegrini, and Urrutia (2006-10). Ambassador Bulnes also worked in academia, including as professor of civil law and professor of law and economics at the Catholic University of Chile and at the Adolfo Ibáñez University. Ambassador Bulnes has been a member of various legal bodies, including the Board of the Chilean Bar Association (2001-05); the Arbitration Body of the National Arbitration Center and the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (2006 and 2009); the Consulting Board of the School of Government at the Adolfo Ibáñez University (2008-10); and the Antitrust Chapter of the Chilean Bar Association (2008-10).

He holds a law degree from the Catholic University of Chile and was the recipient of the Catholic University of Chile Scholarship in 1995, the same year he was awarded the Fulbright scholarship. From 1995 to 1996, he studied at Harvard Law School, where he obtained a master’s in laws.

Born in Santiago in 1969, Ambassador Bulnes is married to Mónica Pellegrini and they have a son.

Djibouti

Said Mohamed Farah assumed the position of first secretary (finance) on Feb. 3, 2012, replacing Mahdi Aden Guirreh, who departed the post Jan. 31.

Qatar

Mohamed Bin Abdulla Al-Rumaihi was appointed ambassador of Qatar to the United States on Feb. 28, 2012.

Ambassador Al-Rumaihi previously served as assistant foreign minister since 2003, during which time he attended various international conferences and participated in the U.N. General Assembly. Among his work, he was head of the Government Committee for Delineating Maritime Borders and the Working Team of the U.N. Security Council (200-07), as well as head of the organizing committees for international conferences such as the F77, China 2005, New and Restored Democracies 2006, Gulf Summit 2007, Financing Development Summit 2008, Arab Summit 2009, and Arab and Latin America Summit 2009. Prior to serving as assistant foreign minister, he was Qatar’s ambassador to France and nonresident ambassador to Belgium, the Swiss Federation, Luxemburg and the European Union (2002-03).

Ambassador Al-Rumaihi was also an officer in the Qatari Armed Forces, rising in the ranks from lieutenant in 1980 to major general in 2001. He was director of the joint Qatari-French Sagr al-Khaleej military exercise in 2001, and he was awarded the National Order of Merit of the French Republic in 1999 and the Order of Honor of the French Republic in 2009. He completed his secondary school education in 1976 and graduated from the Saint Cry Military Academy in France in 1980.

Ambassador Al-Rumaihi, who was born in 1956, is married and has four sons and three daughters.

South Korea

Choi Young-jin was appointed ambassador of South Korea to the United States in March 2012.

Ambassador Choi previously served as South Korea’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 2005 to 2007, after which U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed him to be his special representative for Côte d’Ivoire. Prior to that, he was the vice minister for foreign affairs and trade (2004-05) as well as chancellor of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS), also in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2003-04). In addition, he was ambassador to Austria and Slovenia, and permanent representative to all international organizations in Vienna (2002-03), as well as deputy minister for policy planning and international organizations, responsible for foreign policy planning, North Korean affairs, the United Nations system, disarmament and nonproliferation, and democracy and human rights (2000-01). Ambassador Choi also served as assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations at the United Nations (1998-99), during which time he oversaw planning and support for 17 peacekeeping operations, including those in Kosovo, Timor-Leste, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From 1995 to 1997, he was deputy executive director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, based in New York City, where he oversaw a $5 billion project to construct two light-water nuclear reactors in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Other postings include director-general of the International Economic Affairs Bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1994-95); first senior coordinator in the ministry’s Office of Policy Planning (1991-93); economic counselor at the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. (1988-90); senior assistant to the minister for foreign affairs in Seoul (1987); director of the ministry’s International Organizations Division (1986); political counselor at the Korea Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia (1983-85); political officer in Paris, France (1979-81); and political officer in Dakar, Senegal (1977-78).

Ambassador Choi holds master’s and doctorate degrees in international political science from the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from Younsei University in Seoul.

He is fluent in English and French and knows 3,000 characters in Chinese. Born March 29, 1948, in Seoul, Ambassador Choi is married with two sons.