The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) announced the appointment of Jassim Al-Budaiwi, Kuwait’s ambassador to Washington, as the new Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as of Feb. 1.
GCC Secretary-General Nayef Al-Hajraf congratulated the newly appointed head in a statement on Sunday, wishing him success in his mission and in working to achieve further cooperation among the GCC countries.
Last December, GCC leaders agreed to Kuwait's desire to retain the post of secretary-general of the council for a second term.
Born in 1968, Al-Budaiwi has a bachelors’ degree in Mass Communications from the University of Utah in 1991 and received a Diploma in Diplomatic Studies from the University of Oxford in 1993.
Throughout his career, the newly appointed secretary general occupied several diplomatic positions.
These positions included being Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US from 2022 to 2023, Non-Resident Kuwait's Ambassador to the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg from 2017-2022, Head of Mission of Kuwait to the European Union from 2017 to 2022, Head of Mission of Kuwait to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from 2016 to 2022, Kuwait's Ambassador to Belgium from 2016 to 2022, and Kuwait's Ambassador to Korea from 2013 to 2016.
In 1992, Al-Budaiwi joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the rank of diplomatic attaché in the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the State of Kuwait.
Moreover, the Kuwaiti official headed his country’s delegation at the Kuwait Economic Forum (Kuwait Vision 2035) in 2018, the emergency meeting of the Special Liaison Committee organized by the EU, and the Policy Advisory Group between members of the Istanbul Initiative (ICI) and NATO-allied countries.
