Ausaf Sayeed appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia

New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) IFS officer Ausaf Sayeed was on Thursday appointed India's new ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Sayeed, who is from the Indian Foreign Service's 1989 batch, succeeds Ahmad Javed, who had been serving as envoy to Saudi Arabia from December 2015, an External Affairs Ministry release said.

Presently High Commissioner to Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles, he is expected to take up the assignment shortly.

Sayeed, 55, has handled different areas in his 27 years of diplomatic service, including political, economic, consular and cultural work, besides Haj management. 

He has served as Ambassador to Yemen and Consul General of India in Chicago and Jeddah. He has also served at the Indian diplomatic missions in Cairo, Jeddah, Riyadh, Doha and Copenhagen in various capacities.