Ambassador Sohail Mahmood is the 6th Secretary General of the Developing-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8), headquartered in Istanbul. His appointment as Secretary General was approved by the 11th D-8 Summit held in Cairo in December 2024. His term as Secretary General formally commenced on 1 January 2026.

Ambassador Sohail Mahmood has extensive experience of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, accumulated during his over 37 years career in the Foreign Service of Pakistan. During this period, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood held key positions such as the 30th Foreign Secretary of Pakistan (April 2019-September 2022); High Commissioner to India (2017-2019); Ambassador to Türkiye with concurrent accreditation to North Macedonia and Kosovo (2015-2017); and Ambassador to Thailand/Permanent Representative to UNESCAP in Bangkok (2009-2013).

Earlier, he held senior positions in Pakistan’s Diplomatic Missions in Ankara, Washington, and New York. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad, he served as Director (West Asia), Director General (Americas), Director General (Foreign Secretary’s Office), and Additional Secretary (Afghanistan and West Asia).
In the multilateral arena, he represented Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council, OIC, SCO, ECO and other key regional and international forums.

From January 2023 to December 2025, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood served as the Director General of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), Pakistan’s premier policy think-tank. In this capacity, he spearheaded wide-ranging research work by the ISSI faculty, steered multi-stakeholder dialogue, and advanced national and international outreach. Besides working to bridge the academic and policy communities and impact the policy process, he extensively participated in major international conferences and dialogue forums in different parts of the world.

Ambassador Sohail Mahmood has a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University(New York) and a Master’s degree in History from Quaid-e-Azam University (Islamabad).