Biographical Note

New Permanent Representative of Brunei Darussalam Presents Credentials

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

The new Permanent Representative of Brunei Darussalam to the United Nations, Dato Abdul Ghafar Ismail, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Before his appointment, Mr. Ismail was High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Singapore since November 2007, during which time he served also as non-resident High Commissioner to South Africa and the Maldives.  Between August 2001 and May 2007, he was High Commissioner to India, concurrently accredited to Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Mr. Ismail was Director of Politics II at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade between 1999 and 2001, and Director of Multilateral Economics from 1988 to 1999.  He served as Deputy Grand Chamberlain in the Office of the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertaun of Brunei Darussalam between 1995 and 1998.

Before his appointment as Deputy Director of Protocol and Consular Affairs, from 1992 to 1995, Mr. Ismail was responsible for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), at the same rank, between 1991 and 1995.  He was First Secretary in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 1989 to 1991.  He served as Assistant Director of Economics from 1988 to 1989, following his first foreign posting, to Bangkok, Thailand, as Second Secretary from 1985 to 1987, having joined the Ministry in 1984.

Mr. Ismail holds a Master of Arts in international law and diplomacy from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in the United States, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in geography from the University of Staffordshire, United Kingdom.

Born in Kampong Danau, Tutong, Brunei Darussalam, on 1 October 1952, he is married and has three children.

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