Abdul Ghafoor to replace Thilmeeza as ambassador to the US

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih asked for parliamentary approval on Monday, to replace the current Maldivian Ambassador to the United States of America, Thilmeeza Hussain, with Ambassador-at-large Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed.

Ghafoor graduated from the University of Tasmania, Australia, in 1984 with a B.A(Hons.) in Political Science, and was awarded an M.A in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA in 1988.

Ghafoor began his career in the Maldivian foreign service in 1983. He has served as Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia, Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations offices in Geneva, Permanent Representative of Maldives to the World Trade Organization.

He also has prior experience as Ambassador to the US and Non-Resident High Commissioner to Canada.

He had served as the Foreign Secretary from November 22, 2018 to May 1, 2022 - when he was appointed the Ambassador-at-large.

President Solih has nominated him to replace Thilmeeza, who made history by becoming the first female Maldivian ambassador to be appointed to the US with her appointment on April 18, 2019.

At the parliamentary sitting on Monday, Speaker, former President Mohamed Nasheed announced that the President had also sought approval to appoint Hassan Sobir, the Maldivian Ambassador to Japan, as Non-Residential Ambassador to South Korea, and to appoint Omar Abdul Razzak, the Maldivian Ambassador to Belgium and the Mission of Maldives to the European Union (EU), as Non-Residential Ambassador to Netherlands.

The requests for parliamentary approval for the appointments have been sent to the Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee for review.