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| | Chairperson: Hon. Dr. Ahmed Shaheed
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives.
Honourable Dr. Ahmed Shaheed was educated in schools in Malé and Colombo, before attending the University of Wales, Aberystwyth where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in International Politics and Strategic Studies. He obtained his PhD in 1995 from the University of Queensland, Brisbane in the field of International Relations.
Joining Government Service in 1982, as an officer at the Foreign Office, he was immediately posted to the Permanent Mission of the Maldives to the UN in New York. After two years as Attaché at the Permanent Mission, Shaheed took study leave, returning to the Foreign Office in 1989 to set up the Research and Analysis Section before leaving to Queensland again on study leave in early 1991.
Rejoining the Foreign Office in 1995, Shaheed worked in the Bilateral Relations Department before being appointed in early 1996 to head of the SAARC Division in preparation for the Summit which convened in Malé in 1997. After the Summit, Shaheed was appointed to the SAARC Eminent Persons Group. In mid-1998, Shaheed was made head of the Multilateral Affairs Department before being appointed Permanent Secretary in January 1999. Since 1996, Shaheed has also been serving as the President’s speech writer.
In May 2004, Shaheed left the Foreign Service to take up the newly-created post of Chief Government Spokesman at the rank of a Deputy Minister, to head the Strategic Communication Unit which was established at the President’s Office in connection with the democratization agenda. In June 2004, Shaheed was also appointed as President’s Member to the Constitutional Assembly constituted to draft a liberal democratic Constitution. He returned to the Foreign Office as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 14th July 2005.
Shaheed has attended several SAARC Summits, Commonwealth Summits, sessions of the UN General Assembly and the UN Economic and Social Council as well as sessions of the UN Human Rights Council and a number of UN workshops on human rights. He had led the campaign at the UN to seek a smooth transition to the Maldives from its status as a least developed country, and remains a leading advocate of making the Maldives compliant with international human rights norms.
As a student activist, Shaheed was elected first as a councilor and later President of the Students’ Association at high school in 1980 - 82. After having worked as a Tutor in the Department of Government in the University of Queensland in 1994, Shaheed taught Political Science at the higher secondary institute in the Maldives and privately to students preparing for the London GCE Advanced Level examinations from 1995 - 2000. Since 1996, Shaheed has made a number of academic presentations at regional level conferences and at other forums on regional co-operation, national security, terrorism, and political developments in the Maldives.
Formerly a Vice Chairperson of the Society for Health Education, Shaheed is a co-founder of the Open Society Association of the Maldives and a founding member of New Maldives. Shaheed unsuccessfully contested the Vice Presidency of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) in April 2006. In the summer of 2006, Shaheed led the government’s delegation to the Westminster House talks with the main Opposition party.
Shaheed is married with one son and two daughters.
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