PESHAWAR: Panfilo Marquez has assumed charge of the Consul General of the US Consulate General here.

Mr Marquez is a career diplomat with 23 years of Foreign Service experience. His most recent assignment was deputy director in the executive office of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Before that, he was serving as the minister counsellor for management affairs in Mission Brazil, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.

During his time in Brazil, Mr Marquez also served as the acting deputy chief of mission for nearly a year focusing on collaboration in law-enforcement, military to military cooperation, and improving trade relations.

During his extensive diplomatic career, Consul General Marquez also served in Mission France as the management officer for the US Missions to France, Unesco and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

His other senior US Department of State’s positions included management officer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Tijuana, Mexico.

Consul General Marquez has also served in Afghanistan, Costa Rica and Jamaica.

He is the recipient of numerous superior and meritorious honour awards as well as the department’s Luther Replogle Award for Management Innovation for his work in Brazil.

The newly-arrived consul general is a native of California and entered the Foreign Service directly from graduate school at the University of California, San Diego, where he earned a Masters in Pacific and International Affairs. He speaks Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Consul General Marquez looks forward to working with the government and people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to further strengthen and celebrate the 75 years of diplomatic relations between the United States and Pakistan. He will continue to pursue ‘our joint goals of advancing trade, investment, environmental protection, health, security, education and other priority areas’.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2022