Ambassador

H.E.Dr. Mahmoud Karem served as the Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, Head of Mission of Egypt to the European Communities, and Permanent Representative of Egypt to NATO till 2009 .  He is an active contributor to the Mediterranean NAC +7 Dialogue in NATO since 2005.  Member of the Advisory Board of the Secretary General of the United Nations for Disarmament Matters for six years ending 2009, as well as member of the International Commission  formed by the Director General of the IAEA on Nuclear Fuel Cycle and numerous Secretary General appointed Group of Experts in the United Nations on various peace and security issues. Dr. Karem served in the Egyptian missions to the United Nations in New York, was Deputy Head of Mission to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and headed important negotiations on several items including the resolution on the Application of Agency Safeguards in the Middle East on the agenda of several General Conferences of the IAEA in Vienna.

He was Ambassador to Japan from 1999 until 2003.  In May 1984 Dr. Karem obtained his PhD from the United States with seven distinctions bestowed upon him by the academic board of USC.  In November 1999 Ambassador Karem was selected as Visiting Professor on International Relation at Takushoku University, where he lectured students and the local community on numerous topics such as “Japan and Egypt, Energy Security, the Middle East Peace Process…etc.”, given his experience for more than several decades as visiting professor of political science and international relations in the American University in Cairo (AUC )from 1984 till 1999, Misr International University (MIU), and the Institute for Diplomatic Studies of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Egypt.

Ambassador Karem was elected in Belgium as “Best Ambassador in Belgium and the EU in 2006”, and his Book published by Greenwood/Praeger in 1988 in the US, on the "

Establishment of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East: Problems and Prospects", was selected in 1988 as best book in the field of International Relations in the United States by "CHOICE" international. Dr Karem has published extensively and appeared before numerous conferences, symposiums, and international meetings. He is a widely acknowledged and highly respected expert on security, disarmament and non proliferation matters.

Since April 2008, Ambassador Karem has become member of the Board of Advisors to the International Workshop on Global Security of the Centre for Strategic Decision Research, California.

In May 2009 he was appointed member of the NATO regional cooperation course (NRCC), Academic advisory Board (AAB), in NATO Defence College in Rome.

In June 2009 he was decorated by HRH the King of Belgium King Albert II in a special audience the decoration of the "Order of the Crown", the highest decoration awarded to non Belgian citizens, in recognition of his meritorious services.

Ambassador Karem also received an Egyptian Presidential decoration of the third order in 1979 from President Sadat for his role in negotiating and building peace in the Middle East (the Egyptian Israeli Peace Treaty).

In 1999 he also received the highest medal of excellence and recognition from the Egyptian Ministry of Defence (core of Engineers), for listing the problem of Landmines in the western desert on the national agenda and for importing direly needed detection and landmine clearing equipments.

In March 2010 was elected by acclamation as Secretary General (Minister without portfolio), of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights. He was re-elected to the same position in April 2011 after the revolution in Egypt.

In September 2012 he was re-elected for the third time by the newly formed Human Rights Council. He resigned his position December 2012.

Dr Karem's latest publication was released this December 2012 entitled: "The Conference for a ME Zone Free from Weapons of Mass Destruction."

His chapter dealt with the role of the League of the Arab States in preparing a WMD free zone Draft Treaty. The book is published by the Geneva centre for security studies, and the Arab Institute for strategic studies in Jordan. Ambassador Karem is also an elected Board member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs (ECFA). Recently he was also elected as a Board Member of the NATO Defense College Foundation in Rome and in that capacity attended the Foundation's conference on Afghanistan in Rome in March 2013 where he delivered a speech on Egypt in transition