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Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani

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Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani (Arabic: عبداللطيف بن راشد الزياني, English pronunciationⓘ) (born 15 April 1954) is a Bahraini engineer and retired lieutenant general. He is the foreign minister, having formerly been the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) from 1 April 2011 to February 2020.[1] He was the fifth GCC secretary general and the first with military background since the GCC was established.

Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani
Zayani in 2019
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 February 2020
MonarchHamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
Prime MinisterSalman bin Hamad Al Khalifa
Preceded byKhalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa
Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council
In office
1 April 2011 – 1 April 2020
Preceded byAbdul Rahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah
Succeeded byNayef bin Falah Al-Hajraf
Personal details
Born (1954-04-15) April 15, 1954 (age 70)
Muharraq, Kingdom of Bahrain
Alma materRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst
Occupation
  • Military officer
  • Aeronautical engineer
Military service
Allegiance Bahrain
Branch/service Royal Bahraini Army
Years of service1973–2010
RankLieutenant General
The president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, meeting with the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Jerusalem, November 2020

Early life and education

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Zayani was born on 15 April 1954 in Muharraq, Kingdom of Bahrain.[1][2] He graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom.[3] He is also a graduate of the aeronautical engineering program, Perth Scotland (1978).[1] He received a master's degree in logistics management from the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio, in 1980.[3] He also received a PhD in operations research from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California in 1986.[3] He attended command and general staff courses in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1988 and received the sword of honor along with the title of master logistician from the US Army.[3] Later, he attended leaders in development program at Harvard University in 2008.[4]

Career

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Zayani had work experience in Bahraini defence forces, in ministerial posts as well as in university. He became a commissioned officer in the Bahrain Defence Force in 1973.[5] His career at the Bahraini defence forces ended on 2 June 2004. Then he began to serve as the chief of public security as a major general at interior ministry in 2004.[6] He promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 2010.[4] Next, he was appointed adviser to the minister of foreign affairs in the rank of minister on 10 June 2010.[3][7] He also worked as a lecturer at Arabian Gulf University, and as mathematics and statistics professor at the University of Maryland in Bahrain, and as a quantitative methods professor at the University of Bahrain.[1]

On 1 April 2011, Zayani was appointed secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council.[5] Initially, Bahrain nominated another candidate, Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Mutawa, for the post.[8][9] However, due to Qatar's strong objection to him, Zayani was later nominated by Bahrain for the post in May 2010.[10][11] Zayani replaced Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah in the post.[12] His term is due ended on 31 March 2020.

In January 2020, he was named as foreign minister, replacing Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa in the post.[13][14] On 15 September 2020, Zayani signed the official Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement in a signing ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C.[15]

In May 2023, he visited Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to be the first Bahraini minister of foreign affairs to visit Ukraine since the establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries in July 1992.[16]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "People". GULF Research Center. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  2. ^ "عبد اللطيف الزياني.. خبرة عسكرية سياسية تقود خارجية البحرين". Al Ain (in Arabic). 2 January 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani takes over as GCC secretary general". Bahrain News Agency. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  4. ^ a b "CV of Zayani" (PDF). European Parliament. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Speaker Bio". CEMC. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  6. ^ "Bahrain to host top security forum". Trade Arabia. Manama. 2 July 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  7. ^ "HRH prince Salman receives Zayani". Bahrain News Agency. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  8. ^ "Saudi Arabia to mediate in Bahrain-Qatar row". Al Arabiya. Riyadh. Reuters. 27 May 2010. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  9. ^ Toumi, Habib (2 November 2010). "Bahrain announces new government". Gulf News. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  10. ^ "Bahrain names Al Zayani as next GCC chief". Gulf News. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  11. ^ "Al Zayani is nominated as GCC secretary-general". Gulf Daily News. Manama. 29 May 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  12. ^ "Qatar to nominate diplomat for Arab League chief". Daily News Egypt. Cairo. 4 April 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  13. ^ "GCC Secretary General Al-Zayani named Bahrain's foreign minister". Al Arabiya. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Abdul Latif Al Zayani to be Appointed Foreign Minister of Bahrain". The Media Line. Manama. 2 January 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  15. ^ Michael Crowley (15 September 2020). "Trump Hosts Israel, U.A.E. and Bahrain at White House Signing Ceremony". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  16. ^ "President of Ukraine had a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain". president.gov.ua. 5 May 2023.
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