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Shazelina Zainul Abidin

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Shazelina Z Abidin, PhD
Malaysian Civil Servant/ Foreign Service Officer
Assumed office
December 16, 1996
Personal details
BornKuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Shazelina Zainul Abidin is a Malaysian diplomat who is currently the High Commissioner of Malaysia to Canada. She was previously the Malaysian ambassador to Senegal, with concurrent accreditation to Burkina Faso, Mali, The Gambia and Cabo Verde.[1]

Prior to her stint in Africa, Shazelina was the Head of Communications and Public Diplomacy for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia, and has had postings to Washington DC (2001–2003) and to New York, at the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations (2007–2011).[2]

Shazelina maintains strong links to the academic world with her appointment as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield. [3]

Shazelina was the Director General of the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) [1] from 2021 to 2023, returning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia to head the Division of South Asia and Central Asia.

She taught Contemporary US Foreign Politics at the University of Sheffield in 2014 and 2015 and still regularly speaks on a variety of international relations issues and subjects, upon the request of public universities and organisations.

Education

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She attended Sekolah Seri Puteri boarding school.[4] She graduated with a B.A. (Hons) from Queen Mary University of London, her master's from the University of Edinburgh and her PhD from the University of Sheffield. She joined the Foreign Ministry in 1996.[5]

Career

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In 2009, she was a member of the Malaysian delegation to the United Nations.[6] In 2013, she was on the host committee of the Global Summit of Women.[7]

In 2019, she appeared at a Supdeco conference.[8] In 2022, Shazelina gave the Keynote Address at the Perdana Leadership Foundation's CEO Forum 2022,[9] a forum for Malaysian CEOs inspired by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

For her work in Senegal, Shazelina was awarded the prestigious National Order of the Lion at the rank of Commander by the President of the Republic of Senegal, Mr Macky Sall, in 2021.[10]

Shazelina has her own monthly column in the New Straits Times and a blog on diplomacy and diplomatic practices, ofdiplomacy.com .

Honours

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References

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  1. ^ "Dr Shazelina Zainul Abidin". www.astroawani.com. Retrieved 2020-11-22.
  2. ^ "Head of mission: Dr Shazelina Zainul Abidin". Embassy of Malaysia, Dakar.
  3. ^ "Emeritus, Honorary and Visiting Professors | Department of Politics | the University of Sheffield". 8 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Sisterhood of ex-schoolmates | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 2020-11-22.
  5. ^ "Dr Shazelina Zainul Abidin". r2pasiapacific.org. 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2020-11-22.
  6. ^ "STATEMENT BY MS. SHAZELINA ZAINUL ABIDIN, REPRESENTATIVE OF MALAYSIA" (PDF).
  7. ^ "2013 Host Committee – Global Summit of Women". Retrieved 2020-11-22.
  8. ^ "INVITATION | "Les Vendredis de Supdeco" avec Dr Shazelina Zainul ABIDIN, Ambassadeur de Malaisie au Sénégal". www.supdeco.sn. Retrieved 2020-11-22.
  9. ^ https://www.perdana.org.my/blog/2023/02/23/plf-ceo-forum-2022-session-summaries/
  10. ^ a b "Malaysia's envoy to Senegal ends tour of duty with prestigious award | BERNAMA". www.bernama.com. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  11. ^ "1036 to get State Awards". New Straits Times. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
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