Ahmed Aboul Gheit

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs

Date of Birth: 12/06/1942
Place of Birth: Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt

Born in 1942 in Cairo Mr.Ahmed Aboul Gheit, studied commerce at Ain Shams University, earning a bachelor degree in 1964. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affaires the following year. Mr. Gheit made all his carrer in the egyptian diplomacy since 1965. In 1977-1979 has been First Secretary for the Minister's Cabinet. 1987-1989 has been Deputy Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN. From 1992 to 1996 he was serving as Egypt's Ambassador to Italy, Macedonia, San Marino and representative to Food and Agricolture Organization in Rome. He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2004 and served until March 2011. 

Cairo's former chief diplomat Ahmed Aboul Gheit assured the smooth functioning of the fourth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC IV) held in Sharm El-Sheik on 8-9 November 2009 (see Feature). Egypt promised to use its position at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East to support expanded Chinese activities. Before the summit, Gheit assured his Asian counterparts that the disagreements which threatened other regional summits would be absent from FOCAC IV. 

In October 2009, Gheit caused the postponement of a summit of the Mediterranean Union - a French-led group of European, North African and Middle Eastern countries. The Istanbul conference, held on 27 November that year, was called off when Gheit refused to meet Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Gheit, who claims to have the Arab League's full backing for the snub, was defending the honour of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whom Lieberman in 2008 told to 'go to hell' in a speech to the Knesset, Israel's legislature. 

Another summit promised controversy. Ahead of February's 2010 Franco-African summit, also to be held in Sharm El-Sheik, French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux suggested to the hosts that Sudanese President and International Criminal Court indictee Omer Hassan el Beshir be excluded from the talks. Egypt was not pleased. Beshir was one of several presidents who attended the ministerial FOCAC IV.