Ramlan receives appointment letter as ministry's secretary-general

Ramlan, 59, assumed the post effective Jan 1 this year, taking over from Tan Sri Othman Hashim whose contract of service had expired.

The Foreign Ministry in a statement today said Ramlan began his career as a Malaysian Administrative and Diplomatic officer in 1983.

"Among the countries that he had served in during the early part of his diplomatic career were Indonesia, the Netherlands, Croatia and Singapore," it said.

Ramlan's first ambassadorial post was as Malaysia's ambassador to Bosnia Herzegovina from 2004 to 2006.

He then returned to the headquarters to serve as Undersecretary of the Americas Division and subsequently as Undersecretary of the Southeast-Asia Division.

Ramlan then served as ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2009 to 2013.

He then once again returned to headquarters to serve as Deputy Secretary- General for Bilateral Affairs from 2013 to 2015.

In April 2015, Ramlan was appointed as the Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations in New York.

"He successfully led the representation of Malaysia during its period of non-permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council until the end of its term in 2016," the Foreign Ministry said.

It said his tenure as Malaysia's Permanent Representative to the UN culminated with the successful adoption of Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016) on Dec 23, on the situation in the Middle East including the Palestinian question which was a significant step towards progress in the Middle East.