State Department Press Release:
M. Osman Siddique Sworn in as U.S. Ambassodor to Fiji
M. Osman Siddique was sworn in on August 17 as U.S. Ambassador to the
Republic of Fiji and to the Republic of Nauru, to the Kingdom of Tonga and
to Tuvalu, the Department of State announced.
Ambassador Siddique, who was nominated by President Clinton on May 27,
1999, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 5, 1999, is the first
Muslim to be appointed to represent the United States abroad as an
Ambassador.
In discussions with USIA following his swearing-in ceremony, Siddique
said he believes he is the first American ambassador of the Islamic faith
to take the oath of office with his hand on the Holy Koran. The Christian
Bible is traditionally used to swear in U.S. officials and Siddique said
his wife, Catherine Mary Siddique, provided one for the ceremony.
Ambassador Siddique was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was the former
President and Chief Executive Officer of ITI/Travelogue, Inc., a corporate
travel management company he founded in 1976. ITI/Travelogue, Inc. is
currently one of the top minority-owned businesses in the metropolitan
Washington, D.C., area and one of the largest travel management companies
in the nation.
He has served on several Presidential delegations and was a member of
the National Democratic Institute's International Observer Delegation to
the Bangladesh Parliamentary Elections in 1996.
Following is the State Department text:
Today, M. Osman Siddique was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the
Republic of Fiji and to the Republic of Nauru, to the Kingdom of Tonga and
to Tuvalu. Ambassador Siddique was nominated by President Clinton on May
27, 1999, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 5, 1999.
Ambassador Siddique was the former President and Chief Executive
Officer of ITI/Travelogue, Inc., a corporate travel management company he
founded in 1976. ITI/Travelogue, Inc. is currently one of the top
minority-owned businesses in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area and
one of the largest travel management companies in the nation. In 1994,
ITI/Travelogue, Inc. was honored with the Arthur Anderson and Washington
Business Journal's FasTrack Award for the fastest growing companies in the
Washington, D.C. area. In the course of his career, Ambassador Siddique
was twice named as a finalist for Inc. Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year
Award sponsored by Ernst and Young.
In addition to his work with ITT/Travelogue, Inc., Ambassador Siddique
has been very active in his community. He has served on several
Presidential delegations, including the White House Conference on Travel
and Tourism and the First Hemispheric Trade and Commerce Forum. He also
served as a member of the National Democratic Institute's International
Observer Delegation to the Bangladesh Parliamentary Elections in 1996.
Ambassador Siddique is a member of the Board of Trustees of Bryant
College, a member of the Board of Directors of Partner's for Development
and a former member of the board of Directors for the National Center for
New Americans.
Ambassador Siddique was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He received his MBA
from Indiana University in 1974. He is married to Catherine Mary Siddique.
They have four children, Omar, Julene, Leila and Zachary.
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