The CRTG Working Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Ambassador Hesham Youssef, a highly regarded former diplomat, as a member of its newly established Diplomatic Committee. In this capacity, Ambassador Youssef will leverage his considerable knowledge and experience to strengthen CRTG’s efforts in advancing global peace and security.
Ambassador Hesham Youssef offers a wealth of experience to the CRTG Working Group. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Cairo University and joined the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1985. His distinguished diplomatic career includes pivotal roles such as the Egyptian Ambassador to Canada from 1988 to 1992, and a tenure at the Egyptian Mission in Geneva, where he concentrated on economic issues within the United Nations and the World Trade Organization from 1995 to 1999. From 2014 to 2019, he served as Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian, Cultural, and Social Affairs at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Previously, he acted as Official Spokesman and Chief of Staff to Secretary General Amre Moussa in the Arab League from 2003 to 2011.
Ambassador Youssef's expertise encompasses conflict resolution in the Middle East, with a focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict, reconciliation in Iraq, and the humanitarian situation in Sudan. He has authored numerous papers on reform in the Arab world and has addressed issues of fragility and humanitarian crises impacting Islamic communities, particularly in Somalia, the Palestinian Territories, Chad, Niger, and Myanmar. Following his time at the OIC, he continued to contribute as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary General of the Arab League on crisis management and institutional reform.
After retiring from active diplomacy, Ambassador Youssef served as a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) from 2019 to 2024 and is currently a senior advisor at both USIP and the European Institute of Peace (EIP). He remains actively engaged in consulting on counterterrorism, counter-extremism, and international security, with an emphasis on the Middle East, North Africa, and South-Central Asia.
Ambassador Youssef's exceptional insights and will significantly enhance the CRTG Working Group’s mission.