Ambassador Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin is current Deputy Secretary General, heading the Department of Bilateral Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia. His previous appointment was as Ambassador of Malaysia to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Tehran. Prior to that, he was a Deputy Director General at the Ministry's ASEAN Malaysian National Secretariat. This was preceded by assignments at the Permanent Missions of Malaysia to the United Nations in Geneva and New York. He has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.