Press Releases

Embassy Press Statement

Arrival of Ambassador Ross Wilson In Ankara

December 1, 2005, Ankara. 

The Embassy is pleased to announce that Ambassador Ross Wilson will arrive in Ankara on Saturday, December 3.  The Ambassador will make a brief statement to the press on arrival.  Interested journalists are invited to contact the Embassy press office for further details.

Ambassador Wilson’s Biography:

Ambassador Wilson served as Executive Assistant and Chief of Staff for Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick from February to August 2005.

From June, 2003 until February, 2005, Ambassador Wilson served as U.S. Senior Negotiator for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.  He headed the U.S. delegation to the FTAA negotiations, represented the United States at deputy-ministerial level meetings of the FTAA Trade Negotiations Committee, and was responsible for the development, coordination interagency and implementation of U.S. government negotiating positions and strategies in these trade talks.

A career officer in the U.S. Foreign Service with the personal rank of Minister-Counselor, Ambassador Wilson has worked for nearly 26 years at the Department of State and at American missions abroad.  President Clinton nominated him as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan in February 2000, and he served in that capacity in 2000-2003.  From 1997 to 2000, Ambassador Wilson was Principal Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large and Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union.

Elsewhere overseas, he has served as U.S. Consul General in Melbourne, Australia (1995-97), twice at the American embassy in Moscow, USSR (1980-82 and 1987-90), and at the American embassy in Prague, Czechoslovakia (1985-87).  In Washington, Ambassador Wilson worked for Secretaries of State Baker, Eagleburger and Christopher in 1992-94 as Deputy Executive Secretary of the Department of State.  He was Special Assistant to Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and Counselor of the Department Zoellick in 1990-92.  Early in his career, he served in the State Department’s Offices of Soviet Union and Egyptian Affairs.

Born in 1955, Ambassador Wilson received a Bachelors degree from the University of Minnesota in 1977 and Masters degrees from Columbia University (1979) and the U.S. National War College (1995).  He is the recipient of the President’s Meritorious Service Award (2005), Azerbaijan’s Order of Honor, and numerous State Department awards.  He speaks Russian and Czech.  Ambassador Wilson is married to Margo Squire, who is also a career diplomat with the State Department.  They have two sons.

A photograph of Ambassador Wilson is available at http://ankara.usembassy.gov/index.html