Dr. Saad Ali Shire, The Minister of The Ministry

Dr. Saad Ali Shire was appointed for the current post as Minister of the Ministry of Financial Development in November 2018, after serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs and International cooperation for three years from October 2015 to November 2018. He also served as the Minister of National Planning and Development for five years from 2010 to 2015. During his tenure as minister he served in many committees including the National Planning commission, Somaliland Development Fund Joint Steering Committee, Somaliland Business Fund Grant Advisory Panel, Civil Service Reform Committee, Public Finance Reform Committee, Budget Policy Committee, Private Sector Reform Committee, Land Policy Reform Committee, Berbera Port/Corridor Development Committee, the Board of the University of Hargeisa and the Board of Berbera Maritime and Fisheries Academy.

Prior to joining the government, the Honorable Minister was the Managing Director for UK and Europe of Dahabshiil Transfer Services Limited, a money service company. Before that he held senior positions in the community development sector, lectured at the college of Agriculture of Somali National University and worked for the UN Food and Agricultural organization (FAO) and the World Bank in Washington DC.

Dr. Shire is an economist and an agronomist. He studied agriculture at both Havana University, Cuba, and Somali National University where he earned a bachelor degree. He subsequently attended Pennsylvania State University, USA, where he did master’s and PhD degrees in Agricultural Economics. He has a post graduate diploma in Islamic Banking, and is an IMC member of the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) Society of UK.

The Honorable Minister is a founder member of many academic institutions and professional associations including The University of Hargeisa, the University of Burao, Somaliand Society of Agriculture, Somaliland Economics Association, Somaliland Statistics Association, and Somaliland Society UK.