Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani | |
|---|---|
_(48747904168)_(cropped).jpg) Zayani in 2019 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| Assumed office 11 February 2020 | |
| Monarch | Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa |
| Prime Minister | Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa |
| Preceded by | Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa |
| Secretary-General of theGulf Cooperation Council | |
| In office 1 April 2011 – 1 April 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah |
| Succeeded by | Nayef bin Falah Al-Hajraf |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1954-04-15)April 15, 1954 (age 71) |
| Alma mater | Royal Military Academy Sandhurst |
| Occupation |
|
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Bahrain |
| Branch/service |  Royal Bahraini Army |
| Years of service | 1973–2010 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
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Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani (Arabic:عبداللطيف بن راشد الزياني, Englishpronunciationⓘ; born 15 April 1954) is a Bahraini engineer and retired lieutenant general. He is theforeign minister, having formerly been the secretary general of theGulf Cooperation Council (GCC) from 1 April 2011 to February 2020.[1] He was the fifth persian gulf secretary general and the first with military background since the persian gulf was established.
Zayani was born on 15 April 1954 in Muharraq, Kingdom of Bahrain.[1][2] He graduated from theRoyal 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 fromthe Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio, in 1980.[3] He also received a PhD in operations research from theNaval 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 fromthe US Army.[3] Later, he attended leaders in development program atHarvard University in 2008.[4]
Zayani had work experience in Bahraini defence forces, in ministerial posts as well as in university. He became a commissioned officer in theBahrain 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 amajor general at interior ministry in 2004.[6] He promoted to the rank oflieutenant 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 atArabian Gulf University, and as mathematics and statistics professor at the University of Maryland in Bahrain, and as a quantitative methods professor at theUniversity 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 replacedAbdul 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, replacingKhalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa in the post.[13][14] On 15 September 2020, Zayani signed the officialBahrain–Israel normalization agreement in a signing ceremony at theWhite House in Washington, D.C.[15]
In May 2023, he visitedKyiv, Ukraine to meet PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy during theRussian invasion of Ukraine, becoming the first Bahraini minister of foreign affairs to visit Ukraine since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in July 1992.[16]
Media related toAbdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani at Wikimedia Commons