section_path: Diplomatic career
section_name: Diplomatic career
paragraph_text: Diplomatic career
  
  Youssouf worked at Djibouti's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and headed its Arab affairs department during the 1990s. He served as Ambassador to Egypt from 1997 to 2001.
  
  Youssouf was appointed Minister-Delegate for International Cooperation on 4 July 2001. He was subsequently appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on 22 May 2005. In 2006, he visited Japan.
  
  In 2008, Youssouf served as Chairman of the 129th Ordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Arab League.
  
  Youssouf has played important roles in international diplomacy, especially in the Horn of Africa. Speaking to The New York Times in 2008, Youssouf said that although Djibouti was a small country, it had a sizable port and hoped to develop its economy along the same lines as Dubai. He highlighted the country's strategic location, which he asserted was better positioned than Dubai.