Professional Affiliation

Ambassador of Egypt to the United States

Expert Bio

Motaz Zahran is the current Ambassador of Egypt to the United States. He formerly served as the Assistant Foreign Minister and Chief of Cabinet at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Arab Republic of Egypt. He was the Ambassador of Egypt to Canada, and had held numerous positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister, and previously as Advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the Middle East Peace Process, Palestine, Israel and Egypt’s relations with the United States of America. He had also served at the Embassy of Egypt in Washington DC (2007-2011), as a Political Counselor and Congressional Affairs Officer, and Chargé d’Affaires.

During his diplomatic career he had served three times in the Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the Arab, Asian as well as the Disarmament and International Security Desks. From 2001 to 2005, he served at the Embassy of Egypt in New Delhi, India. Motaz Zahran had also worked in the Office of the Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs and the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the League of Arab States in Cairo as well as the United Nations in New York.

His primary field of multi-lateral expertise, essentially acquired before and enriched during his tenure in New York, is in the disarmament, non-proliferation and international security domain, where he held the post of Rapporteur of the First Committee, later on to be deployed during his position as Egypt’s Sous-Sherpa to the Nuclear Security Summit process inaugurated in Washington DC in 2010. He is currently a member on the UNSG’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (ABDM), as well as a member on the Board of Trustees, UNIDIR.

As a graduate of Law School, holding a degree from University Mohamed V in Rabat, Morocco, and prior to joining Foreign Service, he practiced law in Cairo, Egypt.

Born in Cairo, Motaz Zahran is married with three children. He speaks his native Arabic, and fluent in both English and French.