On Thursday, the Iraqi parliament elected Kurdish politician Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid president of the Iraqi Republic.
Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid was born on August 10, 1944 in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. He is Minister of Water Resources from September 2003 to December 2010 and Senior Advisor to the President of the Iraqi Republic from December 2010 to the present, and one of the active members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and holder of the A degree from the University of Liverpool and a master’s and doctorate from the University of Manchester, and was nominated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan for the presidency of the Republic of Iraq.
He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Liverpool, UK in 1968, his Master’s in Hydraulics from the University of Manchester and his PhD in Hydraulics from the University of Manchester.
Rashid held the position of Minister of Water Resources (2003 – 2010) and presented himself as an independent candidate in the last parliamentary session, despite his previous affiliation with the National Union Party, and, at the same time, Adil (sister-in-law) of the late president Jalal Talabani.
Abdul Latif Rashid began his political career in the 1960s, and joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party, of which he became an active member, and later leader of the Kurdish Student Association in Europe. many meetings and meetings related to the formation of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan..
Born from the First Iraqi Party, he joined it after its formation, was also chosen as the representative of the Kurdistan Party in the United Kingdom, is represented in many European countries, also has a leading role in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and its training since its inception..
Abdul Latif Rashid has participated in many of the conferences and opposition societies that overthrew the Iraqi regime in 2003. He is also one of the political activists in the conferences that have been prepared and led by the Kurdistan Alliance in Europe. He was elected after the formation of the Iraqi National Congress as one of the members of the Executive Council and was elected a member of the leadership of the Iraqi National Congress in 1992 until the fall of the Iraqi Baath regime..
He also has a dense network of relations with various Iraqi parties, and has an active political presence after 2003, having been a prominent member of the Council of INDICATE Between 1998 and 2003 alongside senior international government officials, he has a great friendship with the Iraqi opposition abroad, and after 2003 he became Minister of Water Resources, from 2003 to 2010, and after the end of his work as Minister of Water Resources and his appointment in the Iraqi government to occupy the position of Secretary General of the United Nations FAO, and was appointed Senior Advisor to the President of the Iraqi Republic and is still in office in December 2010.
Minister Abdul Latif Rashid worked at Sulaymaniyah University, where he taught technical subjects for two years from 1969 to 1971, and worked with Sir William Halcrow Consulting Company and its engineering partners from 1971 AD until 1979 AD, and also worked on the Northern Pasture Development Project to conduct the investigation and evaluation of the morgue in Somalia from the year 1979 until 1981 AD
Among the most important positions he held was the position of project director of the International Food and Agriculture Organization for Wadi Tuban, located in southern Yemen, financed by the World Bank and the Kuwait Fund. , for the years 1981 and 1982. International Food and Agricultural Development Project and the Jizan Valley for the years 1983 and 1986, after 2003 he was Minister of Water Resources.
At the end of 2010 he was Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Iraq.
Received a scholarship from the government of Iraq to obtain an engineering degree from the University of Liverpool in the UK, received a scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation to obtain a master’s degree from the University of Manchester, a scholarship study provided by the Robert Annex Smith Foundation to obtain a PhD from the same University.
In 2018 the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan appointed him to the presidency along with Dr Barham Salih and in 2022 he presented his name as a compromise candidate for the presidency due to the failure of the Kurdish forces to appoint a unified figure.
