Ibrahim Shaheeb is the High Commissioner of the Republic of Maldives to the Republic of Singapore. He was appointed as High Commissioner by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, on 15 November 2020 and presented his Letter of Credence to the President of Singapore on 19 January 2021.
Prior to his appointment as High Commissioner, Shaheeb was the Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, appointed in December 2018. As Chief of Protocol, Shaheeb was responsible for the Diplomatic Corps and the Honorary Consular Corps to the Maldives, coordinating all outgoing international visits of the President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and all incoming State and Official Visits of foreign dignitaries. Under this tenure, Shaheeb coordinated maiden visits of the President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to 25 countries, and incoming visits from 40 foreign dignitaries, including the visits of the Prime Minister of India and Sri Lanka, US Secretary of State, and several other Foreign Ministers and high-ranking officials.
Shaheeb is a career diplomat. He started his career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a junior officer in 1991. His first posting was as Third Secretary at the High Commission of Maldives in Sri Lanka (1994-1998). Since then, he has also been posted to the Permanent Mission of the Maldives to the United Nations (2002-2003), and the High Commission of the Maldives in India (2007-2008), here he also served as Deputy Head of Mission. His most recent overseas posting was at the High Commission of Maldives in Singapore (2008-2009), where he was also Acting High Commissioner.
At the Ministry, Shaheeb has served in various posts, starting from a junior officer to Additional Secretary, including in Corporate Services, Multilateral and Bilateral Relations Department as well as Legal Affairs Department. As Head of Corporate Services from 2009-2010, he spearheaded the modernization of a rule based Foreign Service while dealing with human resources development of the Service, and the administration of the Maldives Missions oversees. As Additional Secretary, Shaheeb was in charge of Multilateral Department from 2015 to 2016, Asia Department from 2017 to end on 2017 and Legal Affairs Department from 2018 till he was appointed as Chief of Protocol.
As head of Multilateral Department, he was overseeing and formulating policies on Maldives engagement in International relations. As head of Asia Department, he was overseeing Maldives relationships with ASEAN countries, Central, East and West Asian countries, and providing direction and shaping policy in that regard and as head of Legal Department, he was guiding the legal team in Maldives engagement in all areas.
Apart from his service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shaheeb was appointed as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs from 2013-2015. As the highest-ranking civil servant at the Ministry, Shaheeb supervised the work of all the departments of the Ministry, reporting to the Minister of Home Affairs, and coordinating the day-to-day running of the Ministry as well as subsidiary organizations under the Ministry.
Shaheeb holds a Master in Public Administration from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS (2011-2012), and a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science and Development Studies) from the Australian National University (1999-2001). He has served as a Member of the National AIDS Council from 2016 to 2020 and Member of the Governing Board of SAARC Coastal Zone Management Center from 2004-2005.
Shaheeb is fluent in English and Dhivehi (mother-tongue), and has basic knowledge of German. He enjoys playing sports in his spare time. He is married and has three sons.