May 2013

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China

Cui Tiankai became ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United States on April 15, 2013 having previously served as vice minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2013 and ambassador to Japan from 2007 to 2009.

In addition, he has served various postings in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including: assistant minister (2006-07); director-general of the Department of Asian Affairs (2003-06); director-general (2001-03) and deputy director-general (1999-2001) of the Policy Research Office; deputy director-general and spokesman at the Information Department (1996-97); and deputy division director, director and then counselor at the Department of International Organizations and Conferences (1987-96). He was also minister counselor at the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations (1997-99) and an interpreter for the Chinese Service in the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management at the U.N. Secretariat (1981-84).

From 1977 to 1978, Ambassador Cui was a teacher at Shanghai Normal University, where he completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies. He was also did postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University in the United States and with a U.N. Interpreter and Translator Training Course at the Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages.

Ambassador Cui is married with one daughter.

Georgia

Archil Gegeshidze because ambassador of Georgia to the United States on April 15, 2013.

Before coming to Washington, he was a senior fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) for more than a decade, focused largely on research and training in the fields of regional security and cooperation in the South Caucasus and Euro-Atlantic integration. He is the author of numerous publications on Georgia’s foreign and security policies and on regional conflicts. Ambassador Gegeshidze also lectured on globalization and development and provided training in policy analysis for young professionals and future leaders. Before joining GFSIS, Ambassador Gegeshidze spent an academic year at Stanford University as a Fulbright visiting scholar. He also worked for the Georgian government from 1992 to 2000 as assistant to the head of state on national security and chief foreign policy advisor to the president.

Ambassador Gegeshidze holds a Ph.D. in economic and social geography from Tbilisi State University and has achieved the diplomatic rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.

In addition to his native Georgian, he is fluent in English and Russian and proficient in French and some Asian languages. Ambassador Gegeshidze is married and has one teenage daughter.

New Zealand

Anthony Smith assumed the position of deputy chief of mission in January 2013, having previously served as the head of the political team in Washington, D.C. He replaces Jane Coombs, a former New Zealand ambassador to South Korea, who left D.C. in October 2012.

Switzerland

Daniel Hunn will assume the position of deputy chief of mission on Aug. 1, 2013, replacing Guillaume Scheurer, who is scheduled to depart the post on July 31, 2013.