ISLAMABAD: Jane Marriott OBE, the British High Commissioner-designate to Pakistan will take up her new appointment sometime next month.

Informed sources told Dawn that Marriott was currently in the process of knowing more about Pakistan - a country she has earlier visited twice as part of delegations.

“Delighted to be appointed as the next British High Commissioner to Pakistan! United Kingdom & Pakistan are connected by heritage, strong people ties, climate cooperation & growing trade. Dosti & Commonwealth links can ensure a prosperous future”, Jane Marriott tweeted.

She also said she was looking forward to getting to know this culturally rich and deeply diverse country even better. “The United Kingdom’s relationship with Pakistan is rooted in shared history. Our people-to-people ties bind our countries together in common partnership, which I will be aiming to strengthen further,” she said.

She will succeed Dr Christian Philip Hollier Turner, currently serving as Political Director of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office after serving as High Commissioner to Pakistan from December 2019 to January this year. The first female British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Jane was the High Commissioner to Kenya from September 2019, prior to her new appointment.

In this role she delivered a new UK-Kenya strategic partnership, strengthening ties across mutual prosperity, sustainable development, security and stability, people to people links and tackling climate change.

Jane brings a wealth of thematic and regional experience to her new role having joined the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in 2001, following roles in the Cabinet Office and Home Office.

She has previously served as: Director of the UK’s Joint International Counter-Terrorism Unit; Joint FCDO Director for the Middle East and North Africa; Ambassador to Sana’a, Yemen (2013-15); Deputy and Acting Ambassador to Tehran; and as an adviser to the US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. She has also completed two diplomatic postings to Iraq and one to Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2023