His Excellency Aziz Mekouar
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco
to the United States of America

Aziz Mekouar became ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United States on June 19, 2002. Before his current assignment, Ambassador Mekouar served as Moroccan ambassador to Italy (1999-2002), Portugal (1993-1999), and Angola (1986-1993). Ambassador Mekouar has also served as 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), and first counselor and deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Morocco in Rome (1977-1985).

Currently the chairman of the United Nations FAO Council, Ambassador Mekouar has published numerous papers on world economic issues. He holds a bachelor's degree from the French High School Charles Lepierre in Lisbon, Portugal, and graduated from the HEC Graduate Business School in France in 1974. Born on November 13, 1950 in Fez, Morocco, Ambassador Mekouar is fluent in Arabic, English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. During his tenure as ambassador in Washington he has overseen the negotiation and signing of a groundbreaking Free Trade Agreement between Morocco and the United States, and has worked together with The Friendship Caravan to foster understanding between American Evangelical Christians and the Moroccan people.

Ambassador Mekouar and his wife Maria Felice have one child.

H.E. Dr. Hussein Hassouna
Ambassador of the League of Arab States

Dr. Hussein Hassouna was appointed Ambassador of the League of Arab States to the United States of America in July 2002, having previously served for five years as Ambassador of the League of Arab States to the United Nations. Prior to this, he was Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt for international Legal Affairs & Treaties (1996-1997), Ambassador of Egypt to Morocco (1992-1996) and to Yugoslavia (1989-1992), Director of Cabinet to the Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt (1986-1989), and Director of the Egyptian Press & Information Bureau in Paris, France (1983-1986)

A native of Egypt, Ambassador Hassouna received his L.L.B. & PhD in International Law from Cambridge University in England. This led to a distinguished career in international diplomacy, which saw him serve as a Member of Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations and a Representative of Egypt to major United Nations conferences, Non-Aligned, African and Arab meetings. He also served as a Member of the Egyptian delegation to successive Middle East peace negotiations in Cairo, Tel Aviv and Washington, DC, leading to the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

Dr. Hassouna has lectured at major universities in the United States, Canada, England and France, including Yale, Georgetown, UCLA, McGill, Cambridge, Duke, and the Sorbonne. He is the author of a book, The League of Arab States and Regional Disputes, a Study of Middle East Conflicts, and of numerous articles on international law and world affairs in publications such as the American Journal of International Law, World Policy Journal, and various United Nations publications.

For Ambassador Hassouna and his wife Nevine, this is the second time living in the Washington, DC area. In the early Eighties, he served as Political Counselor of the Embassy of Egypt to the United States.

His Excellency Shaikh Khalifa Bin Ali Al-Khalifa
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States of America

Shaikh Khalifa Bin Ali Al-Khalifa was appointed Ambassador of the State of Bahrain to the United States of America in July 2001, having previously served as the Defense Attaché of the State of Bahrain in the United States from March 1994. Prior to this, he was Deputy Commander of the Bahrain Amiri Air Force (BAAF)

Born in Bahrain on April 3, 1957, Ambassador Al-Khalifa joined the Bahrain Defense Force in 1976, graduated from the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, England with an honors degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1979, and received his Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Southampton University, England in 1981.

He is also a distinguished graduate of the Initial Officers Training Course, RAF College Cranwell, England, and graduated from the Air Command and Staff Course (ACSC), Maxwell AFB, Alabama, USA in 1988.

Ambassador Al-Khalifa’s wife, Shaikha Mariam, has accompanied him throughout his tours. They are the parents of one son, Rashid, and three daughters, Dana, Fatima and Amna.

Karim Kawar was appointed Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United States of America and the Republic of Mexico on July 1st, 2002.

One of the youngest of Jordan’s Ambassadors, Mr. Kawar has a well established reputation as a prominent leader in developing Jordan’s Information and Communications Technology sector.

Mr. Kawar grew up in Amman, Jordan. He graduated from Boston College, MA, in 1987 with a B.Sc. in management, finance and computer science. He has served as a member of several Consultative Council task forces on Investment, eGovernment, Public Sector Reform, and Computer and English Education.

As a pioneer in Jordan's technology and business sector, Mr. Kawar contributed largely to the development of Information Technology in the Kingdom. He was recently selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, and is a founding member of several business associations and NGO’s. He was selected as an Eisenhower Fellow in the year 2000. He is a member of the Young Presidents Organization.

He also served as Vice Chair of the Jordan River Foundation, chaired by Her Majesty Queen Rania. The foundation empowers women through its income-generating projects, business development services for micro-entrepreneurs as well as preventing child abuse.

Ambassador Kawar is dedicated to advancing US-Jordanian relations through enhanced economic and cultural exchanges aiming to promote Jordan as an investment hub in the Middle East. Ambassador Kawar is also deeply committed to work closely with U.S. officials on issues of regional concerns, particularly in advancing the peace process in the region. He believes in the importance of the strong partnership between the United States and Jordan in the pursuit of this vision.

Mr. Kawar and his wife Luma have three children.