MADRID – The Spanish government approved Friday the designation of diplomat and former deputy foreign minister Ramon Gil-Casares as ambassador to the United States.

Gil-Casares, currently head of the Spanish legation in Sudan and South Sudan, will replace Jorge Dezcallar, who has been in Washington since July 2008 after serving as director of the National Intelligence Center.

Born in October 1953 in Madrid, Gil-Casares has been a member of the diplomatic corps since 1982.

He has represented Spain in Equatorial Guinea, Uruguay and the Philippines.

In May 1996 he was named director of the Department of International Affairs and Security on the staff of then-Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

He has also occupied the position of secretary of the Foreign Policy Council, an agency founded in July 2000 to aid the premier in international affairs and to coordinate the activities of the different ministries and public agencies abroad.

Named secretary of state for Foreign Affairs in July 2002, he was replaced in April 2004 by Bernardino Leon after the Socialists’ electoral victory. EFE