Saudi Arabia’s Abdallah Al-Mouallimi has concluded an 11-year tenure as the Kingdom’s top envoy to the UN. In the period he served as ambassador, Mouallimi witnessed exciting events, situations and transformations that shaped his experience.
As a brilliant speaker, Mouallimi relayed the Kingdom’s stances, initiatives, and choices in helping reinforce joint humanitarian work and promote international efforts for advancing the well-being of humanity.
Members of the permanent Saudi delegation to the UN in New York praised the period during which Mouallimi held his position as a representative of his country.
According to his fellow coworkers, Mouallimi spent “eleven years of high professionalism and sincerity in diplomatic work, in the service of his religion, his king and his country.”
Born in 1952, Mouallimi received his B.Sc. degree in chemical engineering from Oregon State University and earned a master’s degree in management from Stanford University.
Al-Mouallimi has a distinguished track record, having held senior government and executive positions over the past 30 years.
He has also served at the highest levels of the Saudi government, most notably when he was appointed to the Majlis Al-Shura, or the National Consultative Council, from 1997 to 2001.
Al-Mouallimi was appointed by royal decree to the position of mayor of Jeddah where he served with distinction until 2005.
Prior to this appointment as top envoy to the UN, Mouallimi served as Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the European Union from 2007 to 2011.
Mouallimi’s representation of Saudi Arabia’s views to the international community coincided with political and economic transformations taking place in the Middle East. This called for a voice of moderate reason to find the right ways to deal with the complex issues of the region.
Mouallimi, leaning on his ingenuity in rhetoric and expressing the conscience of the society from which he stems and represents, managed to voice the position of his country clearly.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s new permanent representative to the UN and Mouallimi’s successor, Abdulaziz Al-Wasil, has presented his credentials to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Al-Wasil joined the diplomatic corps in 1999 and served in the international organizations department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh.
