New Delhi, July 20: A former IFS officer, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, who was today chosen as the UPA-Left's Vice Presidential candidate, has been a distinguished diplomat and expert on West Asia and the Gulf region.

If elected, Ansari, 70, will be the second diplomat to serve as Vice President after Mr K R Narayanan.

Ansari had joined the IFS in 1961 after completing his studies at the St Xavier's College in Kolkata and the Aligarh Muslim University.

During a long and illustrious career as a diplomat, he served as India's Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia (twice; November 1975-April 1976 and January 1995 to November 1999).

He was also posted as the High Commissioner to Australia and as India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

He was awarded the Padma Shri by the government in 1984.

After retiring from the IFS, Ansari was the Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. He was also a Visiting Professor at the Centre for West Asian and African Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Academy for Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia.

Ansari has also served as Chairman of the Advisory Committee for Oil Diplomacy of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, a Co-Chairman of the India-UK Round Table and Member of the National Security Advisory Board.

He has been a Distinguished Fellow of the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.

Ansari is also a Trustee of the Bapu Sadbhavana and Shiksha Trust. He has edited Iran Today: Twenty Years After the Islamic Revolution and has written a number of academic papers and newspaper articles on West Asian politics.

He assumed charge as Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities on March 6, 2006.

UNI