Aziz Mekouar


Aziz Mekouar is a Moroccan diplomat, who served as Ambassador in China, the United States of America, Italy, Portugal, and Angola. He also served as Independent Chairman of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization, and as a special adviser to the Presidency at the Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur and board member at the Bank of Africa. He was appointed in 2016 by the King of Morocco on the Steering Committee as Ambassador to Multilateral Negotiations of COP22.

Personal life

Aziz Mekouar is the grandson of the Moroccan nationalist :fr:Ahmed Mekouar|Ahmed Mekouar, who is best known for being the first person to sign the Proclamation of Independence from the French, a ceremony that took place in the Mekouar Palace in Fes. He is the son of Tahar Mekouar, who served as Ambassador in Lisbon and Rome then as Chief of Protocol to King Hassan II, and Aïcha Benjelloun. Through his mother, he is the grandson of the former minister of Finance and minister of Justice :fr: Abdelkader Benjelloun| Abdelkader Benjelloun, and the nephew of business magnate Othman Benjelloun. He is married to Italian aristocrat marquise Maria Felice Cittadini :it:Cesi |Cesi and has one son.
Aziz Mekouar attended the Lycée Français Charles Lepierre in Lisbon and obtained a graduate degree from HEC Paris in 1974. He is fluent in Arabic, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Career

Aziz Mekouar was the ambassador of Morocco to Angola and to Portugal. Mr Mekouar served as ambassador to Italy Malta, Albania and Sovereign Order of Malta. He was elected Independent Chairman of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization 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.

Interfaith activities

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

Other functions

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