Farid Abboud (, born 1951) is a Lebanese diplomat who served as Lebanese Ambassador to China from June 2013 to December 2017. Before becoming ambassador to China, he was the ambassador to Tunisia from July 2007 to June 2013 and the ambassador to the United States from March 1999 until July 2007.

Education

Abboud holds a Diploma of Higher Studies in Political Sciences from the

Université Saint-Joseph Saint Joseph University of Beirut (; French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', commonly known as USJ) is a private Catholic research university in Beirut, Lebanon, founded in 1875 by French Jesuit missionaries and subsidized by the Go ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and a PhD in history from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

Career

Abboud began his diplomatic career in the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

in 1974. From 1973 to 1977, he was assistant professor of

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

in Beirut. From 1990 to 1995, Farid was the Consul General in Los Angeles. Starting in 1995, he became the assistant director-general of the Department of Political Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served also in the embassies of Moscow, London, and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Abboud has also served as a member of the Delegation of

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

to several international conferences. Among these are the Monitoring Group of the April 1996 Understanding in Southern Lebanon, the U.N. General Assembly Sessions of 1997, 1998 and 1999, and the

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...

Summit Meetings of 1996 and 1998. Abboud reappeared at the

Los Angeles World Affairs Council The Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall (LAWACTH), the Los Angeles office within the national network of World Affairs Councils of America, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization which arranges speaker events, debates, seminars, and ...

to deliver speeches relating to Lebanon in his speech entitled: "Lebanon and the Peace Process: An Update“

Criticism

In 2007, Abboud was described by the

Washington Institute for Near East Policy The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), also known simply as The Washington Institute (TWI), is a pro-Israel American think tank based in Washington, D.C., focused on the foreign policy of the United States in the Near East. WINE ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

's ''de facto'' second ambassador to the United States owing to Abboud's support for the

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

regime. According to former

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

official

David Schenker David Kenneth Schenker (born 1968) is an American diplomat who worked in the Department of Defense during the George W. Bush administration, and was nominated on April 9, 2018, to head the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the State Department. ...

, "Abboud has spent the last six years of the Bush administration largely isolated, having little or no contact with executive branch personnel."

Notes

External links

Farid Abboud: Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abboud, Farid 1951 births Living people Ambassadors of Lebanon to the United States Ambassadors of Lebanon to Tunisia Saint Joseph University alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni Academic staff of Saint Joseph University 21st-century Lebanese diplomats 20th-century Lebanese diplomats Ambassadors of Lebanon to China