Syed Hassan Raza

He joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1986, belonging to the 14th common. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Headquarters in Islamabad, his first assignments included serving as the desk officer for the United Nations and subsequently for Afghanistan. He also served as an assistant legal adviser for international law and treaties. From 2009 to 2013 he was appointed as the Director-General Economic Coordination & FODP (Friends of Democratic Pakistan) divisions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Pakistan), Islamabad.

His foreign diplomatic assignments include working as a political officer in the Office of the UN Special Representative for Somalia, Admiral Jonathan Howe in Mogadishu, from 1993 to 1994, at the height of the country's civil war. It was during his stay when the Battle of Mogadishu took place on 3 and 4 October 1993. He was then posted to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan at the Embassy of Pakistan from 1995 to 1998. He returned to work in the Central Asia region from 2001 to 2003 as the deputy Head of Mission at the embassy of Pakistan in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In 2003 he was posted to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as the deputy Consul General of Pakistan and concurrently represented Pakistan to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) until 2005. In 2005 he joined the OIC as an advisor to the OIC secretary-general, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, on political and legal affairs. He worked in the OIC for three years, on various issues such as the reform and restructure of the organization, including its new Charter. He left the OIC in 2009 to return to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Headquarters at Islamabad.

He served as the D-8 (Developing-8) commissioner of Pakistan^[5] from 2009 until his appointment as Pakistan's ambassador to Qatar.^[6]

Ambassador Raza is married to Anila Hassan, President of Pakistan Foreign Office Women's Association.^[7] They have two sons.^[8]