NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF MALDIVES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
Press Release
BIO/3177
NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF MALDIVES PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
19980909 Biographical Note Hussain Shihab, the new Permanent Representative of Maldives, this afternoon presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.For two months prior to his current post, Mr. Shihab served as Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Planning, Human Resources and Environment, a position he had held previously from 1993 to 1995. From 1995 until this year, Mr. Shihab was Director of the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP).
Mr. Shihab's first government posting was in 1975, when he joined the Ministry of Home Affairs and Social Services as Under Secretary. In 1976, he moved to the Ministry of Agriculture where he served as Under Secretary until 1978.
Between 1978 and 1986, Mr. Shihab worked in the private sector as an employee of Television Maldives. First, from 1978 to 1981, he served as Manager of Television Maldives; rising then to Deputy Director; and then, in 1985, to Director.
He returned to the services of his Government in 1986 as the Director of Environmental Affairs at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Social Services. He held that position until 1988, when he was re-posted to the Ministry of Planning and Environment, where he worked as Director of Environmental Affairs until 1993.
During his diplomatic service, Mr. Shihab has participated in numerous United Nations meetings on the environment, including the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and the 1994 Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. His accomplishments in this area include the formulation of Maldives first national environmental action plan. In addition, he has authored papers on the environment and sustainable development, and presented many of these at international conferences.
Mr. Shihab holds a Masters Degree in Science from the Kuban Agriculture Institute in the Russian Federation, as well as certificates in media and broadcast management and environmental management and assessment.
Born in 1949, Mr. Shihab is married with six children. * *** *