The Arab foreign ministers, in their virtual meeting, unanimously agreed to Egypt’s request to nominate him as successor to Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
The council also unanimously agreed to submit a recommendation to the 35th regular session of the Arab League Summit, scheduled to be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where heads of state formally approve the Secretary-General by consensus.
A unanimous recommendation by the Arab League Council reflects broad political agreement among member states and typically secures endorsement at the summit, after which the appointee assumes a renewable five-year term starting in July.
Ambassador Fahmy,75, will succeed Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who is also a former Egyptian foreign minister and has held the post since 2016, following another Egyptian, Nabil El-Araby.
Since the league’s founding in 1945, the position has traditionally been reserved for Egypt, with the sole exception of Tunisian diplomat Al-Shazly Al-Qalibi, who served from 1979 to 1990.
Veteran diplomat
Ambassador Fahmy served as Egypt’s foreign minister from July 2013 to June 2014, during a turbulent period.
He sought to broaden Egypt’s international partnerships at a time of strained relations with the US and Europe.
Over a three-decade career in diplomacy, Fahmy was ambassador to Japan (1997–99) and to the United States (1999–2008), and played senior roles in international negotiations on security and arms control.
He chaired the United Nations (UN) advisory board on disarmament matters and was vice-chair of the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security.
He also took part in the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference and review conferences of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
In 2009, he founded the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) at the American University in Cairo (AUC), serving as its first dean until 2014.
Emperor Naruhito of Japan awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun in recognition of his service.
Fahmy is the author of Egypt’s Diplomacy in War, Peace, and Transition (2020) and its Arabic counterpart From the Heart of Events (2022), which reflect on Egyptian foreign policy and regional turning points, including the 1967 and 1973 wars and the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
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