ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has extended its warm felicitations to Hussein Ibrahim Taha, from the Republic of Chad, on his election as the new Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General .
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in the aftermath of the recently concluded 47th OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting in Niamey, Niger.
Pakistan reiterated that it would continue to extend all possible support to the new Secretary General in promoting the OIC as the collective voice of the Muslim Ummah.
Hussein Ibrahim Taha from Chad was unanimously elected as the next secretary-general of OIC during the recently concluded OIC meeting in Niamey.
He will replace Yousef Ahmed Al-Othaimeen, who will leave the post in November 2021, to become the 12th head of the OIC. Taha was elected as the two other contenders from Benin and Nigeria decided to support him and Al-Othaimeen withdrew his own candidacy.
The new OIC head, a diplomat and politician, was born in 1951 in Abeche, Chad. Upon completion of his primary and secondary education in Chad, Taha started his undergraduate studies in Paris at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in 1972.
He started his career in 1979 at the Foreign Ministry of Chad and headed the Directorate of Economy and International Relations. In 1990, he was appointed as undersecretary to the Embassy of Chad in Saudi Arabia.
Taha, who was appointed as Chad’s Ambassador to Taiwan in 2001, continued his diplomatic career until 2017 as the Ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal, Greece and the Vatican.
He became Chad’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in 2017. He was appointed as an Adviser to the President and Deputy Secretary General in 2019 after his ministerial duty, and was nominated for the OIC General Secretary by the Chadian government in November 2020.
Saudi Arabia welcomed the election of Hissein Brahim Taha as OIC Secretary-General. Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan wished the former Chadian minister of foreign affairs success in his duties and said the “Kingdom will spare no effort to support” Taha during his tenure . The Saudi foreign minister thanked current Secretary-General Youssef Al-Othaimeen for his great efforts as head of the OIC.
