Rania Al-Mashat

Al-Mashat was born in Cairo to Abdul-Monem Al-Mashat, a professor of Political Science at Cairo University and Nagwa el-Attar, who worked at Ain Shams University. She graduated from The American University in Cairo (AUC) in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. Her father was appointed Egyptian Cultural and Educational Counselor at the Egyptian Embassy in Washington DC in 1995, and Al-Mashat enrolled at the nearby University of Maryland, specializing in International Economics with a focus on monetary policy and public debt management. ==Career==

Al-Mashat worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC from June 2001 until July 2005. and served on the Boards of the Egyptian Exchange, Arab International Bank and the Middle East Economic Association. She said of this role, "I think the experience I had was always to surprise people on the upside by being a capable, Arab woman." Al-Mashat became the first woman to hold the position and Egypt's youngest minister. In October 2018, Al-Mashat escorted US First Lady Melania Trump on her visit to the Giza Pyramids, saying that the visit conveyed the message of "Egypt's safety and security to the world." In January 2019, Al-Mashat announced that Egypt's Grand Museum will be launched in 2020 and will be run by the private sector as part of the government plan to step away from managing many ancient sites. Al-Mashat was one of six speakers at the World Tourism Forum in Lucerne May 2019. In August 2023, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Egypt (ADIB Egypt) named Al-Mashat as a member of its board of directors. Al-Mashat has spoken out about gender equality and the importance of education, saying, "To all Egyptian girls, continue to invest in your education. The world is very competitive and what you know is what distinguishes you from anyone else." ==Awards and honours==

Al-Mashat received the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award from AUC. In March 2021, Al-Mashat received the “Champions of Change” award during a joint ceremony organised by the Embassies of Mexico, Canada, and Sweden in Cairo. In December 2022, Al-Mashat received the award for “Most Visionary and Outstanding Minister of International Cooperation of 2022 in Africa”, presented by the George Washington University Institute of African Studies and the GE7 Initiative in the Visionary Leaders Annual Summit in Washington D.C. ==Selected publications==

• • • • • • • ==Personal life==

Al-Mashat is a Muslim and she first made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1997. ==References==