Aziz Mekouar

Aziz Mekouar (born 13 November 1950, Fes) is a Moroccan career diplomat. He served as Independent Chairman of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Former Moroccan ambassador to the United States of America, he is a special adviser to the Presidency at the Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur (BMCE) and board member at the Bank of Africa. Appointed in 2016 by the King of Morocco on the Steering Committee as Ambassador to Multilateral Negotiations of COP22.

Aziz Mekouar attended the Lycée Français Charles Lepierre in Lisbon and obtained a graduate degree from the Higher School of Commerce (HEC) in Paris in 1974. He is fluent in Arabic, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. He is married to Italian aristocrat Maria Felice Cittadini-Cesi and has one son.

Aziz Mekouar is the grandson of Ahmed Mekouar, Moroccan nationalist, and the son of Tahar Mekouar, a diplomat and business man and Aïcha Benjelloun. He is the nephew of business magnate Othman Benjelloun.

Aziz Mekouar was the ambassador of Morocco to Angola (1986-1993) and to Portugal (1993-1999). Mr Mekouar served as ambassador to Italy Malta, Albania and Sovereign Order of Malta (1999-2002). He was elected Independent Chairman of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in November 2001 and re-elected in 2003. He had previously been appointed ambassador to the United States from June 19, 2002 until 2011. He participated in the negotiation of the Morocco and United States free trade agreement and the Millennium Challenge Account wherein the United States granted US$697 million for Moroccan development projects.

Today he is an independent advisor and consultant for a number of different companies.

As ambassador Mekouar made outreach to Jewish and evangelical Christians one of his priorities, he has helped organize numerous events promoting Christian-Muslim understanding.

During his career, Mr Mekouar has also held other positions of responsibility, including:

• Minister plenipotentiary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Morocco (1985-1986)
• Permanent representative of Morocco to the International Bureau for Information Technology (1978-1985).
• First counselor and deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Morocco in Rome (1977-1985).
• Chairman of the Financial Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Member and Head of Moroccan Delegations to several international conferences (1999 – 2005).
• Chairman of the African Group of the UN organizations in Rome (2000-2005).
• In 2008, Mekouar was appointed Board Member of Amorfix Life Sciences, a theranostics company developing therapeutic products and diagnostic devices targeting misfolded protein diseases including ALS, cancer, and Alzheimer's Disease

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• ^ Short article on Fora.
• Amorfix Life Science Ltd. on Reuters Finance.

• Thesis on Fisheries and their contribution to the development of Argentina (1973).
• Studies on "Asia-Dollar" and its future impact on the development of Southeast Asia (1974).
• 30 years of Italian Domestic Policy (1983).
• 30 years of Italian Foreign Policy (1983).

• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Portugal.
• Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ (Portugal).
• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Italy.