President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has submitted the names of five individuals to parliament, to be approved as foreign envoys.

The five individuals proposed are; Aminath Shabeena to the United Arab Emirates, Dr. Hussain Niyaz to India as well as non-resident ambassador to Nepal and Bhutan, Shiruzimath Sameer to Bangladesh, Farzana Zahir to Pakistan and Dr. Asim Ahmed as the permanent representative at the Maldives mission in Geneva as well as the non-resident ambassador to Switzerland.

All five are working in foreign services.

The president’s nominees were forwarded to the committee on national security and foreign relations, for further review.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that there will be 18 foreign envoys following the appointment to the posts; eight men and eight women.

In a tweet, the foreign minister said that “once appointed, Maldives foreign service will have gender parity among its heads of missions for the first time in the history of diplomatic service”, adding that equal participation of women and men “is crucial” for the country to excel.