Ahmed Réda Chami, the President of the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE), has been appointed by His Majesty King Mohammed VI as Morocco’s ambassador to the European Union. This nomination comes at a sensitive time for relations between Rabat and Brussels, following the annulment of trade agreements by the European Court of Justice.
A return to Brussels
Chami is no stranger to diplomatic duties in Brussels, having previously served as Morocco’s ambassador to the EU from 2016 to 2019. His return fills the position left vacant after Ahmed Rahhou, the previous ambassador, took over as president of Morocco’s Competition Council. Initially, Youssef Amrani was slated for the EU post but was later reassigned to Washington.
A former minister, Chami has held several high-profile positions. From 2007 to 2011, he served as Minister of Industry, Trade, and New Technologies, and from 2011 to 2016, he represented the city of Fès as a member of parliament. Since 2018, Chami has been at the helm of the CESE, succeeding Nizar Baraka.
A prolific career
An engineer by training, Chami graduated from Centrale Paris in 1985 and earned an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. His extensive professional background includes serving as Microsoft’s General Manager for North Africa from 1997 to 2001, before overseeing the company’s Southeast Asia operations from 2001 to 2004.
Chami’s return to Brussels places him at the center of complex diplomatic challenges, particularly as Morocco navigates the fallout from recent rulings by the European Court of Justice, which annulled key agricultural and fisheries agreements between the EU and Morocco.
