Our Team in Iraq

Dr. Mohamed Al Hassan of the Sultanate of Oman arrived in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Thursday 10 October 2024 to assume his responsibilities after his appointment by the United Nations Secretary-General as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

Prior to his appointment As Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and Head of UNAMI, Dr. Al Hassan served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary/Permanent Representative of the Sultanate of Oman to the United Nations since 21 August 2019. While Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary/Permanent Representative of the Sultanate of Oman to the United Nations, Dr. Al Hassan served as the Vice-President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Vice-President of the Thirty-first Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Chairman of the 4th Committee of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Head of the Omani Delegation to the 67th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Head of the Omani Delegation to the 61st Session of the Commission for Social Development, Co-Facilitator of the Summit of the Future on Our Common Agenda, Co-Facilitator of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism, in addition to presiding over the delegation of the Sultanate of Oman to the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Prior to representing the Sultanate of Oman at the United Nations, Dr. Al Hassan served as Acting Under-Secretary for Diplomatic Affairs at the Foreign Ministry of the Sultanate of Oman. He was also Chief of Staff to the Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman, from 2015 until 2019, and served as Head of the Minister’s Department at the Foreign Ministry of the Sultanate of Oman between 2012 and 2015, and as Head of the Political Analysis Unit at the Foreign Ministry of the Sultanate of Oman in 2012.

Dr. Al Hassan represented his country in a number of foreign diplomatic posts, including as Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to the Russian Federation from 2009 to 2012, concurrently holding the position of Non-Resident Ambassador to the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Ukraine, the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Moldova. Between 1993-2005, he served at the Permanent Mission of the Sultanate of Oman to the United Nations in New York, and between 1990-1993 at the Permanent Mission of the Sultanate of Oman to the United Nations in Geneva. He also represented the Sultanate of Oman in the Conference on Disarmament, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in addition to holding the Vice-presidency of the Eighth Session of UNCTAD, held in Colombia in 1992.

Dr. Al Hassan participated in many regional and international forums, including the Islamic Summit Conference in Jeddah in 2005, the Manama Dialogue in Manama in 2005, the Forum for the Future Summit in the Dead Sea in 2006, the USA and the Islamic World Forum in Doha in 2006, and the Sixth International Conference of New and Restored Democracies in Doha in 2006, the Eighteenth Arab League Summit in Khartoum in 2006, the Fourteenth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana in 2006, the Eighth Consultative Gulf Summit in Riyadh in 2006, the Nineteenth Gulf Summit in Riyadh in 2007, the Annapolis Peace Conference in Annapolis in 2007, the International Covenant with Iraq in Sharm Al Shaikh in 2007, the Seventeenth Gulf-European Joint Council and Ministerial Meeting in Riyadh in 2007, the Tenth Consultative Gulf Summit in Riyadh in 2008, the European-Arab Consultative Ministerial Conference in Malta in 2008, the Islamic Summit Conference in Dakar in 2008, the Second Summit of Arab and Latin American Countries in Doha in 2009, the Extraordinary Arab League Summit in Doha in 2009, the Ninth International Investment Forum in Sochi in 2010, the Arab League Summit in Cairo in 2012, the Arab Economic and Social Development Summits in Riyadh in 2013, the International Conference on Somalia in London in 2013, Facilitating the Negotiations Process between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the P5+1 Group of Countries in Muscat in 2014, the Twenty Fourth GCC-EU Joint Council and Ministerial Meeting in Doha in 2015, the Gulf-USA Summit at Camp David in 2015, the Clinton Global Initiative Meetings in Marrakesh in 2015, the International Syria Support Group in Vienna in 2015, the Gulf-US summit in Riyadh in 2016, the Ninth Bali Democracy Forum in Bali in 2016, the Gulf-US summit in Riyadh in 2017, the Eighteenth Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah in 2018, the Extraordinary Islamic Summit in Istanbul in 2018, the Oslo Forum in 2018-2019, in addition to the Third Annual Security Symposium in Jeddah in 2023, the Omani-Switzerland Mediation Week in Muscat 2023, and the 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned (NAM) and the Third South Summit in Kampala 2024.

Dr. Al Hassan is a member of a number of regional and international councils and committees, including the Board of Trustees of the United Nations International School (UNIS), the International Advisory Council of the International Peace Institute (IPI), the Board of Directors of the Non-Governmental Organizations Sustainability Organization (NGO Sustainability Inc.), the Oman’s Diplomatic Club, in addition to his membership in the Network of International Gender Champions (IGC).

Dr. Al Hassan holds a PhD in Economics from Moscow State University in Statistics and Informatics (MESI) and enrolled for the Doctorate programme at the New School for Social Research in New York between 1997-2005. In addition, he holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations, as well as a Postgraduate degree in International Law from Saint John's University in New York, and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Dr. Al Hassan is an “Honorary Member and Academician of the International Academy of Philanthropy” of the Russian Federation and an “Honorary Doctorate in Diplomacy” at the Cugs University. Moreover, he is an “Honorary Professor” of the Belgorod State Institute of Arts and Culture. Dr. Al Hassan is also a member of the Foreign Policy Association in New York.

Throughout his career at the foreign service of the Sultanate of Oman, Dr. Al Hassan has published numerous papers and articles amongst which include “Approach to Disarmament in the Middle East”, “Myths and Realities of the International Criminal Court”, “Divergent Perspectives on Labor Localization in an Oil Rentier Society,” and “Peculiarities of Labor Market Transformation in Building up a Science-Intensive Economy”.

Dr. Al Hassan was born in Salalah, the Sultanate of Oman on 19 August 1963. He is married and has two daughters.

Mr. Claudio Cordone of Italy assumed his responsibilities as Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on 14 August 2022.

Appointed by Secretary-General António Guterres on 11 July 2022, Mr. Cordone brings to this position more than 35 years of experience in international relations, international human rights and humanitarian law, including as Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Lebanon, where he has been serving since 2017. During this time, he also briefly served as the interim Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon. Previously, he served as Director of the Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Division with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), as well as Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the country (2013-2017). He worked with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and spent over 25 years with Amnesty International in multiple capacities, including a six-month tenure as interim Secretary General in 2010. From 1997 to 1998, he served as Chief of the Human Rights Office with the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH).

Mr. Cordone holds a law degree from Sapienza University of Rome and completed a Master of Arts in Arab Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Mr. Cordone speaks English, French, Italian and Arabic.

Mr. Isaczai took up his role in Iraq as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary ‎General, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in October 2022, after serving as UN ‎Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan. ‎
Prior to that, he served as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic ‎Republic of Afghanistan to the UN in New York. ‎
Mr. Isaczai brings to the job over 25 years of work experience in the UN system covering ‎complex humanitarian, development, recovery, and peace-building issues in different parts of ‎the world, including serving as UN Resident Coordinator to the Republic of Azerbaijan (2016) ‎and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (2013). He also served as the UNDP and UNFPA ‎Resident Representative in both countries.‎
Mr. Isaczai served in other senior leadership and management positions within the UN system, ‎including as Director of Program at the United Nations Volunteers in Bonn, Germany; UNDP ‎Senior Advisor and Country Director a.i in Tajikistan, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative and ‎Head of Program in Nepal, and Assistant Resident Representative in Yemen. He also served in ‎Afghanistan, and Syria with the UN system. ‎
Before joining the UN system, Mr. Isaczai held positions with the Swedish Committee for ‎Afghanistan and Save the Children-US in Peshawar, Pakistan, and worked with the private ‎sector in the United States.‎
Mr. Isaczai holds an M.A. in Public International Law from the Fletcher School of Law and ‎Diplomacy, Tufts University, a BSc in Business Administration from Midland University, a ‎Diploma in Human Development from Jones International University, and courses on ‎negotiations and conflict resolution from Harvard University.‎
He is fluent in Pashto, Dari/Farsi, and English and has a working knowledge of Arabic.‎

Mr. Abdel Mageed Yahia is the WFP Representative and Country Director in Iraq, based in Baghdad.
Prior to taking up this position, Mageed was the WFP Representative to the GCC Region, spearheading efforts to enhance WFP’s engagement with Government entities as well as the Private and Public sector in the Region. Prior to that Mageed served as the WFP Representative and Country Director in Jordan, responsible for one of the largest WFP emergency operations in the Middle East Region.
Prior to Jordan, Mageed served as Deputy Director of WFP Human Resources where he was directly managing major projects transforming HR services. Before joining HR, Mageed worked as the Deputy Country Director for WFP Pakistan.
Mageed has more than thirty years’ experience working in the humanitarian field in both emergency and development settings. He served in various operations in areas devasted by conflict, genocide, famine, as well as natural disasters.
Mageed started his career with WFP in Rwanda in 1997 and has since served in a variety of Headquarters and Field Offices in Africa, Middle East and Asia.
Mageed’s humanitarian career with the UN began in Sudan under Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS); the first under the UN jurisdiction to operate in both rebel and government-controlled zones to provide humanitarian assistance throughout the war-torn and drought-afflicted regions in the then south Sudan.
Mageed, a national of Sudan, holds a University Degree in Law, mastering Political Sciences from Morocco and is married with three children.

Ajay Madiwale is UN Women’s Representative ad interim in Iraq. Previously, he was the Regional WPS-HA Advisor for the UN Women Regional Office for Arab States, and he joined UN Women in 2021 as Syria Programme Manager. Before UN Women, Ajay served as the Strategic Planning and Partnerships Advisor at UNOPS, supporting the establishment of eight new country offices and programme presences in the Europe and Central Asia Region. Prior to joining the UN, he worked for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where he led the IFRC’s policy work on the localization of humanitarian aid, represented IFRC in the SDG, COP 21, Financing for Development, and World Humanitarian Summit negotiations, and managed global partnerships with UN Agencies and the World Bank. Ajay’s began his career in Indian civil society, documenting human rights violations for India’s largest legal NGO (HRLN), before taking up his first international role in Kabul with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in 2008.
Ajay holds an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, an MA in Political Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, and a BA in Political Science from Bard College in New York.

Mr. Ali El-Bereir is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Senior Programme Coordinator and Head of its Iraq Office in Baghdad. He brings to his role substantive and managerial experience in developing, negotiating, implementing and monitoring technical assistance programmes, as well as in building and maintaining close partnerships with relevant stakeholders in government, private sector and civil society organizations.
Mr. EL-Bereir joined UNODC in 2014 as Programme Coordinator & Head of the Sub-Regional Programme Office for the Maghreb Countries with ROMENA, based in Tripoli, Libya, and since then served in various capacities, including as UNODC Deputy Regional Representative for the UNODC Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (ROMENA) a.i.
Before joining UNODC, Mr.El-Bereir worked as: Human Rights Officer with the United Nations Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL); Human Rights Officer and Human Rights Officer (Investigator) with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva; Rule of Law/Judicial Affairs Officer with the United Nations Mission In Sudan (UNMIS); with the Judiciary in Sudan; in the private sector and with a Sudanese NGO. He earned a post graduate degree in Human Rights Law from the University of Khartoum, Sudan. He is fluent in Arabic and English.

anil of India joined UNOPS Operational Hub in Amman in October 2023 as Country Manager for Iraq.
He has over 25 years of experience in Programme Management and Support, Public Sector Reform and Governance as well as Development.
anil has worked mostly in conflict and post-conflict countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Somalia, and Syria with different UN Agencies including UNDP, UN Women and UNHCR.
He holds holds a Master of Philosophy in Education (Development Studies), a Diploma in Federalism, Certificate in Development Studies and Master in Social Work.

Auke Lootsma is the Resident Representative for UNDP Iraq office since 28 November 2022, ‎before this he was the Resident Representative of UNDP Yemen office from February 2019 to ‎November 2022. He started in Yemen as Country Director in August 2016. ‎
His career with UNDP began in 1994. In the recent past, he was the Country Director in ‎Rwanda; Senior Recovery Advisor in Ukraine; Deputy Country Director (Programme) in Sudan; ‎and Deputy Resident Representative (Programme) in Uganda. Mr. Lootsma holds a Master of ‎Science in Business Administration and Development Economics.‎

Eric Buchot leads ITC’s operations in Iraq which primarily focuses on strengthening agribusiness value chain and improving trade policy. With two decades of experience in the public and private sectors supporting trade competitiveness and development, he has worked on projects in more than 40 countries and across a range of economic sectors. Mr. Buchot has led some of ITC’s largest trade-related technical assistance (TRTA) initiatives, including in complex and post-conflict environments. Most recently, these have included the national trade strategies for Iran and Afghanistan.
Prior to joining ITC in 2006, Eric Buchot worked at UNCTAD’s Advisory Services on Investment and as a business unit manager for a global trading corporation. Mr. Buchot is also an Associate Professor at Grenoble Alps University, Faculty of Economy, European and International Studies.

Has been working in international development and humanitarian assistance since 2000, bringing extensive expertise in program management across various sectors. Over the years, he has worked at numerous organizations and international NGOs, including the European Union, the World Bank, World Vision Armenia, and the United Nations, as well as in government and think tanks in various capacities.
Mr. Hayrapetyan joined UNFPA in 2005 as the Head of the UNFPA office in Armenia. In 2017, he transitioned to UNFPA Syria as the International Humanitarian Coordinator and later served as the Deputy Representative for UNFPA Yemen starting in 2020.
He holds an MA in Political Science and International Relations from the American University of Armenia and an MA in Political Economy and Public Administration from Central European University in Budapest. Additionally, Mr. Hayrapetyan has completed several advanced courses in executive leadership, program management, poverty and health systems assessments, human rights, negotiation and conflict management, and monitoring and evaluation.
In November 2022, Garik Hayrapetyan joined UNFPA Iraq as Deputy Representative, continuing his dedication to improving lives through development and humanitarian work.

Gazi Shbaikat is the IMF Resident Representative for Iraq and Yemen since January 2021. Previously, Mr. Shbaikat worked in several countries in the Middle East and Central Asia Department in the IMF since 2010. Between 2006-2009, he worked in the Government of the Heshemite Kingdom of Jordan as Head of the National Statistics Office and Minister of Labour. Mr. Shbaikat holds Ph.D. in Economics.

Professor Dr Georges Alfred Ki-Zerbo, a national of Burkina Faso, is the new WHO Representative and Head of Mission in Iraq. He took up the role on 15 December 2023.
He is a fervent advocate for universal health coverage, health security, human capital development and the promotion of health and well-being across the life cycle – all of which are needed to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr Ki-Zerbo specializes in infectious diseases and epidemiology, with a focus on international health and development. He has honed his expertise in health, education, emergencies, and social and human development over a remarkable career that spans 3 decades.
Previously, Dr Ki-Zerbo was Director of the WHO Office to the African Union and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (October 2021–December 2023). In this role, he played a pivotal part in advancing global and continental health initiatives. Prior to this, Dr Ki-Zerbo served as the WHO Representative in Guinea, based in Conakry (December 2016–October 2021).
His contributions to the field go even further back, dating from his time at the WHO Regional Office for Africa from 2004 to 2016. Among the key positions he held were Medical Officer for HIV/AIDS, Regional Advisor for Malaria, Coordinator of the Communicable Diseases Programme Area and Coordinator of the WHO Inter-Country Support Team for Central Africa.
In July 2014, during the West Africa Ebola virus outbreak, Dr Ki-Zerbo showed strong leadership by coordinating the set-up of a subregional public health emergency operations centre in Conakry, Guinea. His efforts were instrumental in briefing key stakeholders about the need for the PHEOC and about the outbreak situation. These stakeholders included the WHO Director-General, WHO Regional Director for Africa, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Guinea, Regional Sustainable Development Group, and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Heads of States Ebola Response Council.
Dr Ki-Zerbo was the Acting United Nations Resident Coordinator in Guinea from November 2018 to May 2020. This role showcased his versatility and his commitment to address health and development challenges at both the regional and global levels.

Ghaliah Faraj is a Programme Officer at Arab Bureau of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). She is from Kuwait where she was born and raised and holds an advanced degree in Global Management from the University of San Francisco. She joined UNIDO headquarters in Vienna as a JPO from Kuwait in 2015 in the Donor Relations department and moved on to the Arab Bureau in 2018.

Giorgi Gigauri joined the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2004. As Chief of Mission for IOM Iraq, since October 2021, he is also the Coordinator of the United Nations Network on Migration and Co-Chair of the UN Durable Solutions Taskforce.
Prior to his current appointment Mr. Gigauri, a Georgian national, was IOM Chief of Mission in Bangladesh, where he was the UN Co-Coordinator of the Rohingya Refugee Operation and co-led the points of entry pillar of the UN COVID-19 health emergency response. He has also served as the Chief of Mission in Papua New Guinea, working on community stabilization, peacebuilding, and humanitarian emergencies, including the 2015 drought crisis.
Mr. Gigauri has held various positions in the Asia-Pacific region and in Eastern Europe, focusing on humanitarian assistance, protection, and sustainable development. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Oxford and speaks three languages.

Dr. Maha Kattaa is the ILO Country Coordinator in Iraq, overseeing a portfolio of projects and the implementation of the Iraq Decent Work Country Programme. Dr. Kattaa is also the Senior Resilience and Crisis Response Specialist for the ILO Regional Office for Arab States supporting Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria, in addition to Iraq.
Between 2013 and 2018, Dr. Kattaa was leading the ILO Response to the Refugee Crisis in Jordan, which is a development-focused and employment-driven response aimed at facilitating equal access to the labour market and promoting decent work for all.
Dr. Maha Kattaa joined the ILO in 2009, following 12 years of experience in academic and governmental fields, including four years at the Syrian State Planning Commission and eight years in managing short and long-term projects with the EU and UNDP. She holds a PhD in International Law and a Master Degree in International Economic Relations and was an associate professor at Aleppo University and Damascus University between 2004-2013.

Monique Maani has a Master’s degree in Social Science and extensive experience in humanitarian affairs in the region. Monique has served as the Head of the Field Coordination Unit with OCHA Syria (2019-2022) and with UNAMI and UNDP in Iraq (2009-2011 & 2013-2018). She has also worked with UNDP as a coordination specialist in Libya (2012-2013) and as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer with UNMIS in Juba, South Sudan (2006-2008).

Mr. Mounir Tabet (Canada) took up his official functions as Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on the 7th of September 2018.
Prior to this, Mr. Tabet served as the UNDP Country Director for Iraq (2016-2018) where he oversaw the program on stabilization and transition.
From 2013 to 2016, Mr. Tabet served as the UN & UNDP Resident Coordinator in Tunisia, providing support to the transition including on electoral support, constitution making, parliamentary effectiveness and anti-corruption.
Previously, Mr. Tabet was the Country Director of UNDP Egypt (2007-2013) where he led support to development efforts. From 2004-2007 he was the Senior Program Advisor in the Regional Bureau for Arab States in UNDP HQ in New York.
Previously, Mr. Tabet was Edward S. Mason fellow at Harvard University – the Kennedy School of Government. There, he completed a Masters degree in Public Administration. He also holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Ottawa.
Between 1989 and 2003, Mr Tabet served in a variety of country and HQ positions with UNDP. Prior to joining UNDP, Mr. Tabet worked with the North South Institute and the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa and the University of Ottowa.

Mr. Muslim Qazimi (Kosovo) has been the Head of UN-Habitat ad interim since September 2023. Previously he was working as Deputy Head of UN-Habitat in Iraq. He joined UN-Habitat in 2018, serving as Chair of the Housing, Land and Property Sub-cluster under humanitarian response and also as Programme Manager managing various projects. He holds a postgraduate/master’s degree in Public Administration and Political Sciences.

Mustafa Al-Kadhimi assumed the role of Country Coordinator for the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program in Iraq in 2023. With 18 years of experience in the professional sector, Mr. Al-Kadhimi has expertise in Program Management, Procurement, Finance, Administration, and Human Resources. He most recently served as HR Associate at UNDP Iraq for 8 years, and prior to that, he worked as Senior Administrator/Finance at IOM Iraq for 7 years.
Mustafa holds a Bachelor's degree in Technical Analysis from Technical University in Baghdad, Iraq.

Paolo Fontani has rich experience working with UNESCO, including roles as Director of the UNESCO Office in Afghanistan and Director of the Liaison Office in Brussels and Representative to the European Institutions. Paolo has been building on UNESCO’s longstanding cooperation with Iraq in order to successfully manage one of UNESCO’s most ambitious country programmes in terms of its global portfolio, supported by significant funding commitments from the donor community.

Mr. Pehr Lodhammar is the Chief Mine Action Programme in Iraq, managing all international and national staff in the program, in addition to donor relations and resource mobilization. As a key advocate for the mine action sector in Iraq, he is often involved with coordination with the highest levels of the Iraqi government, and represents UNMAS at international venues and conferences. Mr. Lodhammar holds a Master’s Degree in International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, and has more than 31 years of military and humanitarian mine action experience.

Rupert has over 20 years’ experience working for a wide range of international and non-governmental human rights organizations

Mr Hajj Hassan, a national of Lebanon, holds a Ph.D. in Plant Production from the University of Agriculture, Damascus, Syria; a Master of Science degree in Plant Production and a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering, both from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
He started his career in 1984, as Senior Research Assistant in the Agricultural Research and Education Centre (AREC), American University of Beirut. From 1987 to 1991, he was Coordinator of the Student Training Programme, and also Agriculture and Horticultural Teacher for the Faculty of Agriculture, at the Lebanese University.
From 1991 to 1995, he worked as Agricultural Engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Bekaa Regional Office, Zahlah and was then assigned to the Agricultural Research Institute in the Tal Amara station, first as Head of the Crop Production Department and subsequently in charge of the Plant Protection Laboratory. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the Kfardane Research Station (Agricultural Research Institute). In 2008, he became Visiting Scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and Coordinator of a project with the International Centre for Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.
In 2010, he served as Advisor to the Minister for Agriculture of Lebanon. In 2011, he became President of the Pesticide Scientific Committee, Head of the Phytoplasma Committee and Director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Programme (ARDP) (EU-funded project). From 2010 to 2013, he represented Lebanon in negotiations with EU, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. During his career, Mr Hajj Hassan also carried out a number of other functions. He represented the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) in several research programmes with the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the American University of Beirut. He was Coordinator of the Mashreq/Maghreb project with ICARDA, representing Lebanon in the Steering Committee, as well as being the Head of the Sugar-beet Delivery and of the Wheat Delivery Committees. For a number of years, Mr Hajj Hassan worked for the preparation of FAO TCP projects and served as the National Director of a TCP project. He joined FAO in January 2014 as FAO Representative in Yemen. Mr Hajj Hassan succeeds Mr El Zubi as FAO Representative in Iraq.

“With over 20 years of experience in management, Mr. Dimassi has extensive experience in multi-lateral and international relations, corporate and policy reform, intergovernmental affairs, strategy design and private sector engagement. Mr. Sami Dimassi joined the UNEP Regional Office for West Asia as Director and Regional Representative in 2017. He held several senior positions in the UN System, such as Senior ICT Advisor, Head of the Innovation Branch, Deputy Director of the Science division, Director of Private Sector Engagement, and Acting Director of Corporate Services all within UNEP. A Lebanese-Canadian national, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from Ottawa University and a master’s in Management from Waterloo University in Canada.”

From July 2020 to June 2023, Ms. Lattouf was the UNICEF Representative in Burkina Faso. Previously, she was the UNICEF Representative in Gambia (2017-2020) and the Deputy Representative in Sierra Leone (2015-2017). She also held numerous positions in UNICEF, including at headquarters in New York, as well as in country and field offices, notably in Haiti, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Prior to joining UNICEF, Ms. Lattouf worked for the international NGO Solidarités (1999-2002) as a Nutrition Programme Coordinator and served in Bujumbura, Burundi; Goma, DRC; and Paris, France.
Ms. Lattouf is a national of Lebanon. She holds an advanced university degree in Nutrition and Food Security from the University of Montpellier in France; a Master’s Degree in Biochemistry and a License in Chemistry from the University of Sciences and Techniques in Tours in France.
The new Representative will play a critical role in steering the UNICEF Country Office in Iraq in supporting the Government of Iraq in fulfilling their commitments on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in partnership with UN partners and other stakeholders, with a focus on most vulnerable children.

Mr Tawfiq El-Zabri is IFAD’s Country Director for Iraq and Yemen since October 2022. Prior to this assignment, Tawfiq managed IFAD country programmes in the Pacific Island countries, Philippines, Pakistan, Jordan, Somalia and the occupied Palestinian territories. He brings a global development practitioner experience covering more than 35 countries in the Middle East, Horn of Africa, Eastern Europe, South and East Asia and the Pacific region; and engagements with the World Bank, IMF and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Areas of expertise include rural development, agricultural commodity chains and agricultural advisory services, inclusive financial services, migration and remittances, organisational capacity building and adaptive management in service delivery projects. Tawfiq is based in Cairo, at IFAD’s multi-country office for Near East and North Africa.

Mr Zeeshan Amin is Chief of UNOCT’s Strategic Coordination Section and Head of UNOCT Programme Office in Baghdad. He also supervises UNOCT Programme Office in Nairobi. Mr Amin supervises UNOCT coordination and cooperation with UN agencies and partners in Iraq, as well works toward channeling capacity-building support on counter-terrorism and PCVE topics to countries in need at the national and regional levels. His Section also includes the UNOCT Global Programme on Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (PRR) that supports Member States around the world on policies and procedures relating to foreign fighters returnees.
Mr Amin has almost 20-years of experience working at UNHQ on a wide range of topics, including counter-terrorism and PCVE policy-making, capacity-building, advocacy and inter-agency coordination, as well as on inter-governmental consultations on General Assembly resolutions. Mr Amin has a Masters degree in International Security Policy from Columbia University in New York, and a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.