Ashraf AboArafe
Mr. Abdulaziz Almuzaini assumed his post as Director of UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science in the Arab States, Cluster Office for Egypt and Sudan, and as UNESCO Representative in Egypt on 15 January 2022. Prior to his appointment to UNESCO Cairo Office, Mr. Almuzaini served as Chargé de mission to the Director of the UNESCO Bureau of Strategic Planning in Paris since 16 September 2019. He was also assuming the functions of ad interim Chief of the Section for Donor Outreach and Resource Mobilization. In this capacity, he was in charge of mobilizing funds from partners with a particular focus on the Arab States region.
Mr. Almuzaini has extensive work experience in international fund mobilization and partnership. He held several high-level posts in the Saudi Fund for Development (Riyadh) from 1984 to 1996. He then served as an Adviser to the Saudi Ministry of Education on the utilization of communication and information technologies in distant education and learning, from 1996 to 1997.
From 1997 to 2011, he worked as Chief Executive Officer and Founder of several public and private companies including the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC, France). He served as the Counselor of Saudi Arabia in the national delegation to the World Trade Organization (Geneva) from 2009 to 2010.
Mr. Almuzaini joined UNESCO in 2011, as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Director-General, where he contributed to the mobilization of resources and partnerships. On 1st July 2013, Mr. Almuzaini was appointed Director of the UNESCO Liaison Office in Geneva (Switzerland) and UNESCO Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva. He holds a Diplôme d’Etudes approfondies (1993) as well as a Ph. D. (1997) in Information and communication from the Sorbonne University of Panthéon-Assas Paris II (France). He also obtained a Master’s degree in Communication from the University of Quebec (Canada) in 1990.
