Abdulla Shahid

Abdulla Shahid

Abdulla Shahid ( Dhivehi ޑރ. ޢަބްދު ﷲ ޝާހިދު) is a Maldivian diplomat and politician of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), who was Foreign Minister for the first time between 2007 and 2008 and Speaker of Parliament ( Majlis ) from 2009 to 2014 . He has been Foreign Minister again since 2018.

Life

Abdulla Shahid joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1984 and studied political science at the University of Canberra , which he completed in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc. Political Science). In 1990 he was a member of the advisory body of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and was a member of this advisory board until 1994. In the meantime he also took a postgraduate degree in international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University , which he completed in 1991 with a Master of Arts (MA). Most recently, he was Head of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as such took part in numerous conferences of the United Nations , the Commonwealth of Nations , the Movement of Non-Aligned States , the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation .

In 1994 Shahid was appointed a member of the Constituent Assembly by President Gayoom and in 1995 a member of the resulting parliament (Majlis) . At the same time he became Executive Secretary of President Gayoom in 1995 and held this post for ten years until 2005. In 2000 he was elected a member of the Majlos for the first time for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and represented the constituency of the Vaavu Atoll (Velidhoo Dhaaira) . Between July 2004 and August 2008 he was again a member of the Constituent Assembly, which dealt with the drafting of a new constitution. In 2005 he became Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was appointed Foreign Minister by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on August 23, 2007 after the resignation of Ahmed Shaheed on August 21, 2007. He held the post of Foreign Minister until the end of President Gayoom's term on November 11, 2008, after which Ahmed Shaheed succeeded him in the government of the new President Mohamed Nasheed . As Foreign Minister, he was also a member of the National Security Council.

After the end of the term of President Gayoom Abdulla Shahid played a key role in the transition to democracy and was the Maldivian People's Party DRP (Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party) in 2008 and in May 2009 with 43.26 percent of the vote in the constituency Keyodhoo (Keyodhoo Dhaaira) again elected member of parliament. As the successor to Mohamed Shihab , he took over the office of Speaker of the Parliament ( Majlis ) on May 28, 2009 and held this office until May 27, 2014, when Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed succeeded him. He was elected in May 2009 with 42 votes from the 75 MPs. On April 15, 2013, he announced that he was leaving the DRP and rejoined the MDP on April 18, 2013. For this he was re-elected as a member of parliament in the elections on March 22, 2014 and represented the constituency of Henveiru-Nord (Henveyru Uthuru Dhaaira) until November 1, 2018 .

After Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was sworn in as the new President on November 17, 2018, he presented his new cabinet. This includes Abdulla Shahid as Foreign Minister, Mariya Ahmed Didi as Defense Minister, Sheikh Imran Abdulla as Interior Minister and Ibrahim Ameer as Finance Minister.

Shahid is married and has two sons and a daughter.

Web links

Commons : Abdulla Shahid  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Curriculum vitae on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (archive version from 11 August 2014)
• Entry in Prabook
• Entry in Rulers

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Maldives: Foreign Minister (Rulers)
2. ↑ Maldives: August 21, 2007 (Rulers)
3. ↑ Maldives: Foreign Minister (Rulers)
4. ↑ Maldives: November 9, 2008 (Rulers)
5. ↑ Majlis: Previous Speakers
6. ↑ entry on the homepage of the Majlis (18th legislative period)
7. ^ Maldives: Government Solih on the homepage of the President
8. ↑ Maldives: November 17, 2018 (Rulers)