The UN’s cultural agency voted on Monday to appoint former Egyptian minister Khaled El Enany as its next director general, as Unesco faces renewed scrutiny over political bias and the US decision to withdraw.
Mr El Enany, Egypt’s former minister of antiquities and tourism, will replace French chief Audrey Azoulay, who completed two four-year terms.
“My campaign has been one of listening: 65 countries, over 400 encounters with people whose ideas and hopes have shaped my vision. That vision has been written for and with them; rooted in their voices and grounded in shared aspirations,” Mr El Enany said in a statement on social media.
His nomination will now go before Unesco’s General Conference for formal ratification on November 6 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
The 58-member executive board has never had a recommendation rejected by the full assembly. The US, which announced its withdrawal from Unesco this year, did not take part in the vote.
Mr El Enany defeated Edouard Firmin Matoko of the Republic of the Congo in the secret ballot for a four-year term. He had long been considered the front-runner, having launched his campaign in April 2023.
The 54-year-old Egyptologist spent more than three decades teaching at Helwan University and holds a doctorate from Paul-Valery Montpellier 3 University in France, where he has also served as a visiting professor.
Before joining government in 2016, he directed Cairo’s Egyptian Museum and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation. He later served as minister of tourism and antiquities until 2022.
Fluent in Arabic, French and English, Mr El Enany was appointed as a special ambassador for cultural tourism by the UN World Tourism Organisation in 2024 and is a patron of the African World Heritage Fund.
If confirmed, he would become Unesco’s first Arab director general and the second African to lead the body after Senegal’s Amadou-Mahtar Mbow.
The Unesco chief oversees the agency’s work across education, science, culture and press freedom in its 194 member states – a position increasingly shaped by global political divides and questions over the future of multilateralism.
UAE%20SQUAD
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MATCH INFO
World Cup 2022 qualifier
UAE v Indonesia, Thursday, 8pm
Venue: Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai
Mobile phone packages comparison
RESULT
Deportivo La Coruna 2 Barcelona 4
Deportivo: Perez (39'), Colak (63')
Barcelona: Coutinho (6'), Messi (37', 81', 84')
Company name: Farmin
Date started: March 2019
Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: AgriTech
Initial investment: None to date
Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
JAPANESE GRAND PRIX INFO
Schedule (All times UAE)
First practice: Friday, 5-6.30am
Second practice: Friday, 9-10.30am
Third practice: Saturday, 7-8am
Qualifying: Saturday, 10-11am
Race: Sunday, 9am-midday
Race venue: Suzuka International Racing Course
Circuit Length: 5.807km
Number of Laps: 53
Watch live: beIN Sports HD
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
THE SPECS
Engine: AMG-enhanced 3.0L inline-6 turbo with EQ Boost and electric auxiliary compressor
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 429hp
Torque: 520Nm
Price: Dh360,200 (starting)
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
