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If successful, El-Enany will be UNESCO’s first chief from an Arab nation and only the second from Africa. He’ll replace Audrey Azoulay of France, who has served two four-year terms as director general.
The UNESCO is set to select former Egyptian antiquities and tourism minister Khaled el-Enany as the organization’s next director. The body’s executive board voted on Monday by 55 to 2 in favor of El-Enany over Republic of Congo’s Édouard Firmin Matoko.
If successful, El-Enany will be UNESCO’s first chief from an Arab nation and only the second from Africa. He’ll replace Audrey Azoulay of France, who has served two four-year terms as director general.
El-Enany’s nomination must now be ratified by the body’s 194 – member general assembly when it meets in Uzbekistan in November.
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In June, Washington accused UNESCO of bias against Israel and said that it will leave the organization at the end of next year. El-Enany has said he will work to bring the US back. America contributes 8 percent of UNESCO’s budget. The 54-year-old Egyptologist served as minister of antiquities and later tourism under President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi from 2016 to 2022.