Ambassador Khaled Shamaa holds a MA in International Relations and Affairs from the George Washington University, and a B.Sc. in engineering from the Cairo University. Born in Giza, Egypt, he started his diplomatic career in 1988.
Ambassador Shamaa served as Ambassador to Mexico, Belize and Austria. From 2011 to 2016, he served as Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations, IAEA, OSCE and other international organizations in Vienna.
During that period he served as Governor to the IAEA Board of Governors, vice chair of the board 2015; chair of regional groups including NAM, African, and Arab groups, vice-president to the 13th UN Crime Congress 2015.
Lead, as chair of the UN Commission on Drugs CND, the high-level review of the political declaration, consensually adopting the 2014 Ministerial statement, and Lead as chair of the preparatory board of the 2016 United Nations special session on the world drug problem extended multistakeholder negotiations consensually adopting the UNGASS 2016 outcome document.
Between 2008 and 2011, Ambassador Shamaa was Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for International Security and Disarmament. In this capacity, he drafted and negotiated regional security and disarmament policy documents and action plans. He also negotiated the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference action plan on the Middle East.
Earlier in his career, he served as Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the UN in New York, and delegate to the UN General Assembly’s First Committee where he negotiated draft resolutions, political declarations and instruments relating to international security, disarmament and non-proliferation including on small arms and light weapons. As a diplomat, he was also stationed in Brazil, South Africa.