UK appoints new envoy to Yemen
The Source: LONDON/hadhramaut.info/sabanews.net - 02/10/2010
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Jonathan Paul Wilks has been appointed UK ambassador to Yemen, the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said in a statement Wilks will succeed Timothy Torlot who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment", said the UK Foreign Office, adding that Wilks will take up his appointment during October. On his appointment as ambassador to Yemen, Wilks said: "I am honoured and delighted to be taking up this post at a time when both countries are attaching increased importance to their bilateral relations. I will be working hard for an effective bilateral partnership that strengthens the security, stability and prosperity of both our countries".Accorder to the statement, Wilks 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.In 2002, he volunteered 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
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