He presented his credentials to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 11 November 2002. Latheef took over the role, first on a charge d'affaires basis from Hussain Shihab[2] on September 9, 2002. Prior to this, he had been the Ambassador of the Republic of Maldives to the United States.
He became deputy speaker, and was appointed a member of the Peoples' Special Assembly in 1979, retaining this post until 1997. Latheef was also the national director of the Project for Public Administration Reform, and director general of the Maldives Centre for Management and Administration, both from 1992 to 1993. Also in 1993, he was made deputy minister of the Ministry of Atolls Administration.
Finally, before moving into a diplomatic post, Latheef served as the minister of education from 1993 until 2002, and served as a member of the Maldives parliament (the Majlis) between 2000 and 2002.