The world has lost a brilliant Polish diplomat

Islamabad :‘The News’ has learned of the demise of former ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Pakistan, Andrzej Ananicz.

A soft spoken man who spoke Urdu fluently, he was a well liked and respected diplomat and all those who knew him were sorry to see him leave when his tenure in Pakistan came to an end. (2011-2015) He was among the few senior envoys from the diplomatic community in Islamabad  - along with his wife Zofia - who interacted with the local people with ease and were admired for their down to earth personalities.

Both were staunch supporters of the Asian Study Group and participated actively in numerous ASG activities. In April 2014 the ASG had the privilege of hosting a highly engrossing and fascinating presentation by Ambassador Ananicz on Yunus Emre, (1238-1320) a Turkish poet and Sufi mystic who greatly influenced Anatolian culture. The ASG offers sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family.

Expressing his condolences on the death of Andrzej Ananicz, Minister Witold Waszczykowski said, “The world has lost an outstanding intellectual, a brilliant diplomat but also a noble man and a proud Pole, devoted to the affairs of his country.”

Andrzej Ananicz worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1991. He served among others as director of the Department of Europe, and later as undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He chaired the negotiating team working on the Polish-Russian treaty on friendly and neighborly cooperation in 1992. In 1994-1995, he worked at the Chancellery of the President and then returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take the post of secretary of state.

He also served as vice-chairman of the negotiating team during Poland’s pre-accession talks with the European Union. During his professional career, Andrzej Ananicz held the office of ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Turkey and Pakistan and fulfilled his duties as Director of the Diplomatic Academy of the Polish Institute of International Affairs. In 2004-2008 he worked for Poland’s Foreign Intelligence Agency.