Abdallah Bou Habib

Abdallah Bou Habib
عبد الله بوحبيب
Bou Habib in 2023
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 September 2021
Prime Minister	Najib Mikati
Preceded by	Zeina Akar (interim)
Personal details
Born	(1941-11-21) 21 November 1941 Jdeide, Lebanon
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	American University of Beirut Vanderbilt University

Abdallah Rashid Bou Habib (Arabic: عبد الله رشيد بوحبيب; born 21 November 1941) is a Lebanese economist, author, and diplomat who is serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs since September 2021.

He previously served as Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon (2001–2005) and as Lebanon's Ambassador to the United States (1983–1990).

Early life and education

Bou Habib was born in Jdeide, Lebanon. He is a graduate of Brummana High School (1960) and the American University of Beirut where he received his bachelor's degree in Economics (1967) and his master's degree in Economics (c. 1970). He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1975. At Vanderbilt University Department of Economics he taught as Assistant Professor (1975–1976) and as Senior Teaching Fellow (1973–1975). He served as Lecturer at Notre Dame University, Lebanon (2002–2003) and at La Sagesse University, Lebanon (2003–2015).

Career

In 1976, Bou Habib joined the World Bank Group where he served as an Economist and later as Senior Loan Officer until 1983. After serving as Ambassador of Lebanon to the United States, he rejoined the World Bank in 1992 and served as Senior Adviser to the Vice President of the MENA Region & Regional External Affairs Unit Chief, MENA Region until retirement in 2001.

Bou Habib has written two books: America's Values and Interest/ A Half Century of US Foreign Policy in the Middle East, 2019 (Arabic) and Al Daou' Al Assar, US policy Towards Lebanon, a record of Bou Habib's seven years as Lebanon's Ambassador to the US, 1991 (Arabic). Over the past thirty years, he has published several articles about Lebanon in regional and international dailies. His Ph.D. dissertation: The Long-Run Supply of Crude Oil in the United States (Vanderbilt University, 1975) was published by Arno Press, NY, 1979.

From 2007 to 2015, Bou Habib founded and directed the Issam Fares Center for Lebanon, a non-partisan Beirut-based think-tank dedicated to the advancement of a balanced and realistic understanding of major global, regional and domestic issues affecting Lebanon.

Personal life

Bou Habib is married to Julia Seabrook Cole and together they have three children and six grandchildren.