Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit, the eighth Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, took office on 1st July 2016.
Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, Mr. Aboul Gheit served as Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2004 to March 2011. A career diplomat, he has previously served as the Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations, New York (1999–2004) and Ambassador of Egypt to Italy (1992–1996). He has held the positions of Assistant Foreign Minister and Director of the Minister's Cabinet twice in 1991–1992 and 1996–1999.
In the course of his career, he served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations (1985–1989), Advisor to the Prime Minister (1984–1985) and Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1982–1984). In addition to his service at the Office of Egypt's National Security Advisor (1971–1974), Mr. Aboul Gheit occupied positions at Egypt's missions to the United Nations, Cyprus and the Soviet Union.
Mr. Aboul Gheit was a member of the Egyptian delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference (1991) and of the Egyptian delegation to the Egyptian-Israeli peace negotiations at Camp David (1978).
He is the author of two books on Egyptian foreign policy:
Witness to War and Peace (2013) and
Egypt's Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis: My Testimony (2012).
Mr. Aboul Gheit holds a bachelor of commerce from Ain Shams University, Cairo (1964) and has received a doctorate degree
honoris causa from the Arab Academy for Science & Technology, Alexandria (2024).
Mr. Aboul Gheit is married to Mrs. Laila Kamalaldin Salah and has two sons.
