After studying at
the University of Minnesota, Benaissa went on to serve the United Nations and the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization for approximately eleven years, first as press attache to the UN Moroccan Mission in New York (1965), then as information officer at ECA - Economic Commission for Africa - in
Addis Ababa (1965–1967), regional information adviser for Africa at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's regional office in
Accra, Ghana (1967–1971), communications adviser at the FAO headquarters in Rome (1971–1974), later director of the information division at FAO (1974–1976), and finally as Assistant-
Secretary General at the UN
World Food Conference (1974–1975). Benaissa returned to
Morocco to become a member of
Parliament for the city of
Asilah from 1977 to 1983, and then
Mayor of Asilah in 1984, a position to which he had been reelected three times up to 2010. From 1981 - 2025, Benaissa each year organized an international festival in Asilah, initially a venue for artists, poets, musicians and writers to come together each summer to participate in a cultural event, similar to the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Over the years, the Asilah Festival added a small convention center where speakers from many countries came to make presentations and discuss issues. From 1977 to 1985, Benaissa also served as chief editor of
Al Mithaq (Arabic) and
Al Maghrib (French) dailies, the newspapers of the Rassemblement National des Indépendants (RNI) party to which he then belonged. From 1985 to 1992 Benaissa was the
Minister of Culture, and subsequently the Moroccan
Ambassador to the
United States from 1993 to 1999. In April 1999, King
Hassan II appointed Benaissa to
Minister of Foreign Affairs just three months before the King's death. Benaissa remained in his position under Hassan's successor,
King Mohammed VI, until Foreign Minister Delegate
Taieb Fassi Fihri replaced him in the government formed on 15 October 2007 under
Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi. ==Books and recognition==