Peter D. Haas is an American diplomat who served as the

United States ambassador to Bangladesh The United States ambassador to Bangladesh is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Bangladesh. President Joe Biden nominated career diplomat and Deputy Chief of Mission for the Embassy of the ...

from March 2022 to July 2024. Haas previously served as acting

assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs is an office in the United States Department of State responsible for managing the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. It was known as the Assistant Secretary of State for Ec ...

Education

Haas earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in German and international studies from

Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856. History The in ...

in 1988 and a Master of Science in economics from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

Career

After joining the

United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carr ...

, Haas was first assigned to the U.S. embassy in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

as an economic officer. Haas also served as a desk officer for one year in the

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

and was an economic officer in the

Embassy of the United States, London The Embassy of the United States of America in London is the diplomatic mission of the United States in the United Kingdom. Its office is located in Nine Elms and is the largest List of diplomatic missions of the United States, American embassy ...

. From 2011 to 2014, served as consul general of the United States, Mumbai. From 2014 to 2017, Haas worked for the United States mission to the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

, including as acting permanent representative in 2017 and 2018. Haas then relocated to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, where he worked as acting deputy assistant secretary of state for trade policy and negotiations, deputy assistant secretary for trade policy and negotiations, and acting

United States ambassador to Bangladesh

On July 9, 2021, President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

nominated Haas to be the next

United States Ambassador to Bangladesh The United States ambassador to Bangladesh is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Bangladesh. President Joe Biden nominated career diplomat and Deputy Chief of Mission for the Embassy of the ...

. The

Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign a ...

held hearings on his nomination on October 20, 2021. His nomination was favorably reported by the committee on November 3, 2021. Haas was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on December 18, 2021, via

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

. On March 15, 2022, he presented his credentials to the President of Bangladesh,

Abdul Hamid ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd (ALA-LC romanization of ; ; ), also spelled as Abdulhamid, Abdelhamid, Abd-ul Hamid, and Abd ol-Hamid, is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is a Muslim theophoric name built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd' ...

. In December 2022, he had to cut short a visit to Maayer Daak, an advocacy group for victims of enforced disappearance, after pro-government mob tried to storm the venue. He oversaw the imposition of visa restrictions on Bangladeshi government officials and politicians in 2023 to ensure a fair general election in 2024. He had also warned that visa restrictions might be imposed on media personnel in Bangladesh. Haas and the United States call for fair election was not well received in India which supports the current

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

government in Bangladesh led by Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina (''née'' Wazed; born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. Premiership of Sheikh Hasina, Her ...

. In July 2024, when the

Bangladesh quota reform movement The quota reform movement in Bangladesh was organized to demand a reduction in government job quotas and shift toward merit-based recruitment. There were three significant protests. The first occurred in 2013, when university students opposed t ...

protests against the ruling

government were ongoing, Haas resigned his post.

Personal life

Haas speaks

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haas, Peter D. Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American diplomats Alumni of the London School of Economics Ambassadors of the United States to Bangladesh Consuls for the United States Illinois Wesleyan University alumni United States Foreign Service personnel