New brotherly, friendly envoys to present credentials to President

Saba
SANA’A, Sep. 30 (Saba) – A number of brotherly and friendly countries’ new envoys are to present their credentials to President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Sunday.Well-informed sources told the state-run 26 September that the regular ceremonies will be held for the ambassadors. President Saleh will hold talks with them on the cooperation relations between Yemen and each of their countries.The sources said that the ambassadors would include the US new ambassador to Yemen Michael Feierstein.According to the US embassy in Sana’a website, Feierstein was sworn in on September 17, 2010, as the U.S. ambassador to Yemen. Prior to his appointment, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Islamabad, Pakistan.Feierstein, a specialist in Near East and South Asian Affairs, entered the Foreign Service in June 1975 and has served overseas in eight postings: Islamabad (1976-1978), Tunis (1983-1985), Riyadh (1985-1987), Peshawar (1989-1992), Muscat (1995-1998), Jerusalem (1998-2001), Beirut (2003-2004), and Islamabad (2008-2010).He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Point Park College and an M.A. in International Relations from Duquesne University. He is married to the former Mary Gill and is the father of three children: Adam, Anne and Sara.Moreover, new UK ambassador to Yemen Jonathan Wilks will be among the ambassador who presents their credentials to president Saleh on Sunday.Mr. Wilks, who will succeed Mr. Timothy Torlot, joined the Diplomatic Service in 1989 and began his career as a desk officer in the Middle East Department. Two years full time Arabic language training followed, which led to postings in Sudan and Saudi Arabia, according to the UK embassy in Sana’a website.He volunteered in 2002 to serve on temporary duty as Deputy Head of Mission in Afghanistan. Later in 2002 he was seconded to the Cabinet Office Assessments Staff as an Iraq analyst and followed this in April 2003 with a diplomatic posting as deputy head of the team that reopened the British mission in Baghdad after the Iraq war. After 7 months in Baghdad, he returned to FCO in 2004 working in the Iraq Policy Unit.In 2005 he entered a new field, joining the FCO’s Political/Military team as Deputy Head of Security Policy Group, working on policy on the UK nuclear deterrent, ballistic missile defence and conventional arms control.In 2007 he returned to his main area of expertise, as the UK Government’s first regional Arabic Spokesman, based in Dubai and travelling throughout the Arab world, engaging with the Arab media in interviews, chat shows and debates on British policy in the Middle East and Arab and Islamic issues. In 2009, he returned to Baghdad as Deputy Head of Mission, finishing in July 2010.AF/AF