The 1989-batch officer, currently serving as joint secretary for west African affairs in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, is expected to take up his new assignment in Sanaa in mid-September.
Sayeed is one of the youngest IFS officers to be appointed as an ambassador. He earlier worked in the Indian missions in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Denmark in various capacities. His last assignment was as consul general of India in Jeddah (from August 2004 to July 2008) during which he was widely credited for bringing about considerable improvements in the management of Haj.
He is seen as a role model by the large Indian diaspora in the Gulf and is described by his friends as a connoisseur of art, culture and literature "who works tirelessly to promote India's rich cultural heritage abroad." Among his many diplomatic and cultural accomplishments have been the successful organization of the "India Week" in Qatar in 1999, "India Festival" in Jeddah in 2005 and the "Asian Film Festival" in Jeddah in 2008. He also played a key role in the formation of the Saudi-India Friendship Society in 2006.
An unabashed patron of the Urdu language and literature, he helped organize several mushairas (poetry sessions), seminars, symposia, humorous sessions and ghazal and musical programs during his postings in the Gulf states. The Annual Urdu Mushaira in Jeddah, which was conceived by him in 1996, has since become a prestigious Urdu event in the Gulf and has been organized continuously for the past 14 years. His efforts in holding the first World Urdu Conference in Jeddah in June 2008 in association with the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) were widely appreciated.
A gold medalist from Osmania University, Sayeed belongs to a Hyderabad family with rich literary credentials. His father, Awaz Sayeed, was a well-known modern Urdu short-story writer and his uncle, Professor Mughni Tabassum, is a celebrated Urdu poet and critic.
Sayeed has authored a book titled "Trends in Objective Geology for Civil Services and Other Competitive Examinations" (1990). He has also compiled another Urdu book called "Kuliyaat-e-Awaz Sayeed" (2009), which consists of the entire literary works of his father. He is said to be an Arab by descent and affiliated to the Al-Musalli clan. "My paternal great grandfather served as a state treasurer under the Sultan of Al-Mukalla in southern Yemen during the early 1900s before migrating to Hyderabad to join the services of the Nizam of Hyderabad," he is quoted as saying in one of his articles.
