The U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council will host a lunch and discussion with Mr. John Simmons, the newly-appointed Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of the United States in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) on Thursday, July 28th in Washington, D.C.
The event will provide an opportunity for members of the U.S.-U.A.E. business community to meet with Mr. Simmons prior to his departure for Abu Dhabi later this summer. Mr. Simmons has served extensively overseas as a Foreign Commercial Service Officer and is an international business and trade expert. His biography can be found below.
Mr. John Simmons
New Commercial Counselor
U.S. Foreign Commercial Service
U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi
John Simmons will assume his post in Abu Dhabi later this summer, having recently served as Senior Commercial Officer in Islamabad, Pakistan for the past year. Prior to this role, he served as Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Peru, where he lead an Embassy team of highly skilled international trade specialists who actively support, promote and defend U.S. business interests in Peru.
A career Foreign Service Officer, Mr. Simmons has held several posts with U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service. Directly prior to his assignment in Peru he served at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 2003 to 2007. In addition, he served for three years at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. In this capacity, he headed the Medical Industry and Intellectual Property Rights unit.
Prior to joining Commercial Service in Tokyo, Japan, Mr. Simmons spent two years at the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Long Beach California. Preceding this assignment, he covered high-technology sectors in the Office of Japan Trade Policy at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. For five years, Mr. Simmons also served as the India Desk Officer at Commerce.
Mr. Simmons holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a Masters of Arts in International Affairs from the School of International Service at American University.
