UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Dr. Rania Al-Mashat as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), a major role overseeing economic and social development cooperation across 21 Middle Eastern and North African countries.
Al-Mashat is one of Egypt’s most prominent economic figures, with over 25 years of experience in macroeconomic policy, central banking, development finance, and international cooperation. She previously served across three ministerial portfolios starting in 2018 — first as Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, where she became the first woman to hold the position, then as Minister of International Cooperation, and later as Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation.
Before joining the government, she served as Sub-Governor for Monetary Policy at the Central Bank of Egypt and as an Adviser to the Chief Economist at the IMF in Washington. She holds a PhD and MA in Economics from the University of Maryland, a BA from the American University in Cairo, and has completed executive education at Harvard’s Kennedy School and Oxford.
ESCWA, headquartered in Beirut, is one of five UN regional commissions, focused on driving economic integration and policy coordination across the Arab region.
