Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie
Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie was appointed Iraq’s Ambassador to the United States of America in April 2006. Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Sumaida'ie served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations from July 2004 - April 2006. Previously, Ambassador Sumaida'ie served as the Minister of Interior in Baghdad. In addition, Ambassador Sumaida'ie served as a member of Governing Council (GC) in Iraq. In the GC, he was Chairman of the Media Committee. He played an integral role in the founding of the Iraqi Telecoms and Media Commission and the Public Broadcasting Institution. He also held positions on the Security, Finance, and Foreign Relations Committees.
Prior to the removal of the Baathist regime, Ambassador Sumaida'ie was actively involved in opposition efforts in the United Kingdom and attended a number of high-level conferences throughout the world. As founding member of the Association of Iraqi Democrats and the Democratic Party of Iraq, he is widely renowned as an expert on the political climate in Iraq.
A successful businessman, Ambassador Sumaida'ie founded a procurement agency in 1978 and has embarked on a number of entrepreneurial ventures in his career. In the 1980s, Ambassador Sumaida'ie established a design office in London, pioneered the use of computers in Islamic art and completed important works in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom. Most recently he served as Co-Founder and Managing Director of China Business International, an investment consultancy and procurement company based in Beijing.
Ambassador Sumaida'ie was born in Baghdad and resided there until 1960. He graduated from Durham University in the United Kingdom with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1965. He then returned to Iraq to work with the Baghdad Electricity Board and Iraqi Petroleum Company before leaving the country in 1973.
Ambassador Sumaida'ie is married and has five children, all of whom currently reside in the United Kingdom. He enjoys a wide range of cultural activities, including writing poetry and crafting designs in the Islamic decorative medium.
