Connect Asia Pacific 2013

​Dr. Mahmoud Vaezi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1952. He obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Sacramento State University and San Jose State University in California in 1976 and 1978, respectively both in Electrical Engineering. He then started his Ph.D studies at Louisiana State University in Communications Engineering, but felt obliged to return to Iran in early 1980 to serve the Islamic Revolution. Moreover, he obtained his Ph.D. in International Relations from Warsaw University. He began his professional carrier in 1980 in the Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI), and was the Deputy Minister for Telecommunications as well as TCI's Chairman of the Board and CEO from 1981 to 1985. He then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he held senior positions, including the Deputy Minister for Political Affairs for Europe and Americas 1989-1997, and Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs 1997-2000. Subsequently, he moved to the Expediency Council's Center for Strategic Research, where from 2009 to July 2013, he was Vice President for International Affairs and Foreign Policy. Since July 2013, he is the Minister of Communications and Information Technology in the Islamic Republic of Iran.