KUALA LUMPUR: His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, presented the instrument of appointment to the new Malaysian Ambassador to the United States, Tan Sri Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob, in a ceremony at Istana Negara today.

Muhammad Shahrul Ikram is the former Foreign Ministry’s secretary-general.

According to a post on Sultan Ibrahim’s Facebook page, the ceremony was also attended by the Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Mohamad Alamin and the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Sri Amran Mohamed Zin.

Muhammad Shahrul Ikram replaces Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, whose term concluded on Feb 8.

The Pahang-born Muhammad Shahrul Ikram holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Ecology from Universiti Malaya and has attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in the US.

He started his career as an Administrative and Diplomatic Officer in the Foreign Ministry in 1988 and served as the ministry’s secretary-general from Jan 6, 2019, to May 31, 2022.

Throughout his 35 years in public service, Muhammad Shahrul Ikram has been posted as Malaysian Ambassador to Qatar, Malaysian Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations in New York.

While at the Foreign Ministry, he had served as deputy secretary-general (Bilateral Relations), director-general of the ASEAN-Malaysia National Secretariat (during Malaysia’s 2015 ASEAN Chairmanship) and Secretary of the Multilateral Political Division.

His other previous diplomatic assignments include the Malaysian missions in Vienna, Washington, and Beijing.