BIOGRAPHY
of
H.E. Dr. Mulatu Teshome Wirtu
President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
H.E. Dr. Mulatu Teshome Wirtu was elected President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on October 7,2013 by the joint session of the House of People’s Representatives and the House of Federation of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
Prior to his election as the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the Republic of Turkey.
H.E Dr. Mulatu Teshome WIRTU was simultaneously accredited to the Republic of Georgia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Kazakhstan, and to the Republic of Tajikistan, as non resident Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (March 2006 - October 2013)
Prior to his post as an Ambassador of Ethiopia to Turkey , he was the Speaker of the House of Federation of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (October 2002-October 2005)
H.E. Dr. Mulatu Teshome was elected speaker of the House of Federation on October 10th, 2002. He is the second speaker in history to be chosen as the Speaker of the House of Federation of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, which is the Second Chamber of the Federal Parliament.
H.E. Dr. Mulatu Teshome has devoted his entire professional life to working for the Government. Prior to being elected Speaker of the House of Federation, He was Minister of Agriculture (2001-2002). During his tenure as Minister of Agriculture, he was Head of the Ethiopian Delegation to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, August 26- Sep.4, 2002; Alternate Head of the Ethiopian Delegation to the World Food Summit: Five Years Later in Rome 10-13 June 2002; Head of the Ethiopian Delegation to the 25th Session of IFAD Governing Council, Rome, 19-20 Feb. 2002; and Head of the Ethiopia Delegation to the 22nd FAO Regional Conference for Africa, Cairo, Egypt, 4-8 February 2002.
Before his appointment as Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Mulatu held the position of Vice Minister (1995-2001) at the Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation. He was in charge of international economic cooperation both bilateral and multilateral and lead the Ethiopian delegation in all bilateral and multilateral negotiations and annual consultation meetings with Ethiopia's development partners since in office at MEDAC in 1995. He lead the Ethiopian Delegation to all COMESA Council of Ministers, and
Specifically Represented Ethiopia at the Summit level in Kenya (1998 June); Mauritius (1999 June); Egypt (2000 June). He was also Head of the Ethiopian Delegation to all the preparatory meetings of TICAD II and assumed the role of Rapporteur in all of the preparatory meetings in Tokyo (Nov. 1997) Dakar (March 1998), Harare (June 1998), Addis Ababa (Sept. 1998), and finally at the summit in Tokyo (October 19 – 21, 1998).
Before joining the Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation Dr. Mulatu was in the field of diplomatic service: Ambassador Extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the People's Republic of China (1994-1995); Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Japan (1992-1994); and non-resident Ambassador to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia and the Philippines. He started his career as a Counsellor where he held senior positions as a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in October 1991.
Dr. Mulatu's professional experience also includes research and teaching. He was a research and teaching assistant in international relations when he was a MALD student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (1988 – 1990). He was Assistant lecturer at the Debre-zeit Agricultural College and Veterinary Institute of the Addis Ababa University (1982-1984).
Born in 1957 in Wollega, Ethiopia, Dr. Mulatu is fluent in English, Amharic, Chinese, Oromifa and tries a little bit of French. He obtained a B.A. degree at Beijing University in 1982 in Political Economy and Philosophy. In 1988 he obtained LLM in International Law and a Ph.D. in 1991 from the same University. After finishing his course works for the Ph.D. candidacy at Beijing University he went to the U.S.A for further studies in International Relations. He was at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (administered by Harvard and Tufts University 1988 - 1990) where he acquired his MALD degree in May 1990.
Dr. Mulatu is married to Meaza Abreham with whom he shares a son, Paulus Mulatu. His hobbies are swimming, Football, Tennis, Classical Music.
