page_title: Mahamoud Ali Youssouf
section_title: Diplomatic career
hierarchical_section_title: Mahamoud Ali Youssouf / Diplomatic career
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Djiboutian Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf after deplaning at the Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport in Djibouti, Djibouti, on May 6, 2015, to visit a local mosque, meet with President Ismail Omar Guelleh and the Foreign Minister, pay a call on the U.S. Embassy and its staff, and to visit with U.S. forces at Camp Lemonnier. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
context_page_description: Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is a Djiboutian diplomat. He has served in the government of Djibouti as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2005.
context_section_description: Youssouf, worked at Djibouti's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and headed its Arab affairs department during the 1990s. He served as Ambassador to Egypt from 1997 to 2001.
  Youssouf was appointed as Minister-Delegate for International Cooperation on 4 July 2001. He was subsequently appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on 22 May 2005. In 2006, he visited Japan.
  Youssouf served as Chairman of the 129th Ordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Arab League in 2008.
  Speaking to The New York Times in 2008, Youssouf said that although Djibouti was a small country, it had a sizable port and hoped to develop its economy along the same lines as Dubai. He highlighted the country's strategic location, which he asserted was better positioned than Dubai.
caption: Youssuf meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in 2015.
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