Mulatu Teshome

Mulatu Teshome Wirtu is an Ethiopian politician who was president of Ethiopia from 2013 to 2018.

Biography

Mulatu was born in the town of Arjo in Welega Province. He was educated in China, receiving his bachelor's degree in philosophy of political economy and doctorate in international politics at Peking University. He received his Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from Fletcher [School of Law and Diplomacy|The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy] at Tufts University in 1990. He taught at some "foreign universities and institutions", according to Speaker Abadula Gemeda.
In the mid-1990s he was Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Cooperation under Minister Girma Birru, and he was appointed as Ministry of Agriculture and [Rural Development (Ethiopia)|Minister of Agriculture] in 2001. He was also Speaker of the House of Federation from 2002 to 2005. He served as Ethiopia's Ambassador to China, Japan, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.
While serving as Ambassador to Turkey, he was 2013 [Ethiopian presidential election|elected] as President of Ethiopia by a unanimous parliamentary vote on 7 October 2013. Girma Seifu of the Unity for Democracy and Justice, the sole opposition member of parliament, welcomed his election. Like his predecessors Girma Wolde-Giorgis and Negasso Gidada, he is Oromo.
Mulatu is married and has one son.