Haidar Hadi

Childhood and Growing up in Iraq

Haidar was born in Baghdad, Iraq on 27 July 1970 into a middle-class Iraqi family. Both his parents are originally from Najaf. His father, Mansour Hadi Al Athari, has a military background, having served in the Iraqi army during the Iran-Iraq war and is now a businessman based in Baghdad, Iraq and Amman, Jordan. Haidar is the second eldest child and the only son of his parents. He grew up in Baghdad throughout his childhood and finished elementary school and high school in Baghdad.

University and Graduation

Haidar attended university in England, living in Southampton and Nottingham during his time as a student where he studied Business Administration. After graduating, Haidar moved to London for his job and remained in London until 2004.

Meeting his Wife

In 1999, Haidar met his future wife Maysum Hadi. After meeting in London and getting to know each other over the coming months, they got engaged in 1999. In January 2000 they got married in Knightsbridge, London.

Life Post-Graduation

After graduating from University, Haidar took a job as an export manager for Canary Trading Company Limited from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, he took up the role of Project Manager at Webstar PLC. Both of these jobs were in London, where he worked for several years. Whilst working in the capital, Haidar lived in Harrow with his wife. His eldest child, his son, was born in Harrow in late 2000 and they all lived there until 2004, when the family moved to Jordan.

Move to Jordan

In 2004, Haidar and his family moved to Amman, the capital of Jordan. They moved into their new flat in Abdoun shortly after arriving in Jordan.

Moving Back to Iraq

In 2006, Haidar moved back to Iraq after 15 years which he spent mainly in England and Jordan. In 2008, Haidar’s name was put forward as a nomination to be an Ambassador by former Prime Minister and current Vice President of Iraq Ayad Allawi. In October 2009, Haidar Hadi was formally announced as an Iraqi Ambassador.

Ayad Allawi’s Nomination

In 2008, current Iraqi Vice President and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi nominated Haidar Hadi to be an Ambassador. Following the nomination, Haidar was successfully announced as an Ambassador in October 2009.

Post to Belarus

In July 2010, Haidar was announced as the new Iraqi Ambassador to Belarus. This made him the first Iraqi Ambassador to serve in Belarus since the Iraqi Embassy shut down in 2003 and only the third Iraqi Ambassador in history to serve in Belarus. This was his first post as an Ambassador and he went into Minsk as one of the youngest Ambassadors in the Iraqi government and in Belarus. He spent his first few months in Minsk setting up the Ambassador’s residence and the Iraqi Embassy, meeting with the Iraqi students and passing his credentials to Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. In 2015, Haidar began working on starting a direct line between Baghdad and Minsk with Iraqi Airways. The project was delayed several times and it took a few years to set up and Haidar monitored the situation until the first flight landed in Minsk in early 2017. Iraqi Airways maintained the route to Minsk and added more flights in as it grew more popular.

Return to Baghdad

In November 2015, Haidar’s post in Belarus expired and he returned to Iraq in December 2015. Upon returning to Baghdad, he started his new role in the ministry immediately. During his time in Baghdad, Haidar was part of two delegations, one to South Korea and one to Egypt, which he was leading. In October 2016 it was announced that Haidar would be the next Iraqi Ambassador to Russia.

Post to Russia

In December 2016, Haidar and his family moved to Moscow for the start of his second post. After a few months refurbishing the Ambassador’s residence, Haidar and his family moved in to the home. For the first few months, Haidar was setting up his post and gradually inducting himself into the political community of Russia. In March 2017, Haidar passed his credentials to Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, officially marking his position. During his time in Russia, Haidar has visited multiple cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Grozny and Kazan on official visits. In September 2017, an Iraqi Airways plane landed in Vnukovo International Airport for the first time which opened the direct route between Iraq and Russia. This marked the second destination that Haidar brought Iraqi Airways to in his career and Iraqi Minister of Transport Kadhim Finjan Al Hammami was on the first flight.

Distinguished Fellow

Haidar is a Distinguished Fellow for the New Westminster College in British Columbia, Canada. He was given the role in October 2014 and still holds it. He has a biography on their website and his CV can also be seen there.

Social Media

Haidar is very active on social media and has a page on most social media platforms, the most active one being Twitter. He uses social media to communicate with many of his followers and posts updates and new information about himself or the embassy he works at.

Childhood

Haidar’s family originate from the city of Najaf in Iraq but he was born in Baghdad and lived there until he moved to England to go to university in 1991.

Moving to the United Kingdom

Haidar has lived in several cities in England since moving to the United Kingdom such as Nottingham, Southampton, Portsmouth and London. He attended 2 universities in England and graduated there. He took his first job and met his wife in London.

Family

Haidar has been married to Maysum Hadi since January 2000. He has two children with her, a son, aged 16 and a daughter, aged 11, both of whom were born in London.

Maysum Hadi

His wife, Maysum Hadi, was born in London to Iraqi-Turkish parents and graduated in London. During Haidar’s post in Belarus, she was heavily involved in the Diplomatic Women’s Club where she helped organise many events open to both diplomats and non-diplomats. Many of these events were in aid of charities in Belarus. During her time in Minsk Maysum appeared on the famous Belarusian magazine, Pinguin, multiple times, including an appearance on the cover, as well as appearing on Belarusian TV several times in interviews and the “Culinary Diplomacy” cooking show.

Career Timeline