Abdul Waris Saeed

Joint Secretary

Biography

Abdul Waris Saeed is a career foreign service officer. He is currently the Joint Secretary / Deputy Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since December 2023. As head of the India Division from August 2021- December 2023, Mr. Waris played an instrumental role in coordinating the Maldives-India bilateral relations.

Abdul Waris Saeed commenced his professional career in the year 2000 at the Maldives Foreign Service, where he started as a Desk Officer at the Protocol Department. Since then he has been promoted through the ranks and served in various Departments of the Ministry. Throughout his career at the Ministry, he has worked in the Protocol Department and the Information Technology Unit of Corporate Affairs Department, overseeing the technological advancement projects of the Ministry as Senior Desk Officer and later as Assistant Director. He also headed the Middle East and Africa Division, first as Director, and Director General and then as Joint Secretary from 2016 to 2021.

Throughout his tenure in the Maldives Foreign Service, Abdul Waris Saeed was posted as Second Secretary at the Embassy of the Republic of Maldives in the United States of America in 2007. At Washington D.C. Saeed executed the process of establishment of the new Mission. He also completed posting at the Embassy of Maldives in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the First Secretary from 2013 to 2016. During this time, he coordinated Maldives-Saudi Arabia bilateral relations and represented as a Maldives delegate in numerous meetings and conferences of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Abdul Waris Saeed holds a Master of Computer Science in Management Information Systems from University Malaya and holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Computing from Staffordshire University. Additionally, he has completed training courses in international relations and blue diplomacy.