GAPP dean Nabil Fahmy appointed Egypt’s foreign minister

Ambassador Nabil Fahmy, founding dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) at The American University in Cairo (AUC), will serve as Egypt’s foreign minister in the interim government of Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi. Fahmy, who will be on public service leave from AUC, has headed GAPP since its establishment in 2009 after a remarkable career serving Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in numerous posts.

"We are delighted that Ambassador Nabil Fahmy will be serving in this important post," said AUC President Lisa Anderson. "Dean Fahmy is not only the founding dean of our School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, but is also a distinguished AUC alumnus, with an impeccable record of service to Egypt. Under his able leadership, GAPP has, in a short span of time, become the region's leading public policy school at a moment where professional civil servants in the fields of public administration, public policy, law and journalism are in great demand in both government and NGOs in Egypt and the region."

Ambassador Fahmy received his Bachelor of Science in physics/mathematics and his Master of Arts in management, both from AUC.  He has been a career diplomat who has played an active role in the numerous efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, as well as in international and regional disarmament affairs.  He headed the Egyptian delegation to the Middle East Peace Process Steering Committee in 1993 and the Egyptian delegation to the Multilateral Working Group on Regional Security and Arms Control emanating from the Madrid Peace Conference from December 1991.

Over the years, Fahmy has been a member of the Egyptian missions to the United Nations (Disarmament and Political Affairs) in Geneva and New York. He was elected vice chairman of the first committee on Disarmament and International Security Affairs of the 44^th Session of the UN General Assembly in 1986.  From 1999 until 2003, he was a member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board of Disarmament Matters, where he served as its chairman in 2001.

He has also served as Egypt’s ambassador to Japan and political adviser to the foreign minister and has held numerous posts in the Egyptian government. From 1999 to 2008, Fahmy served as Egypt’s ambassador to the United States, then he returned to Egypt to serve as Chair of the Monterey Center of Nonproliferation Study’s Middle East Nuclear Nonproliferation Project. He is also serving on the Advisory Board of the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.

Fahmy, who has written extensively on Middle East politics, development, peacemaking and regional security and disarmament, took the challenge of establishing the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at AUC. Since its establishment, GAPP has become the premier  global affairs and Public Policy school in the Middle East and Africa, graduating highly competent and knowledgeable professionals, capable of quality decision making and execution on matters of public concern: domestically, regionally and globally. The School was established to develop and enhance the capacity of individuals, governments, and NGOs to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the future as they strive to create a more prosperous, more sustainable and more equitable future while balancing the rights and responsibilities of individuals and communities.