Mr Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah is the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Mauritania, and former Minister of Commerce and Transportation, as well as former Ambassador to Washington and to the European Union in Brussels.

During his tenure with the United Nations, he acted as the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) in conflict-affected Burundi between 1993 and 1995, then to West Africa and later on to Somalia. He also worked from the United Nations Headquarters as the Secretary General’s envoy for Special missions. He worked with the World Bank as Director of the Think Tank Global Coalition for Africa, chaired by Robert McNamara in Washington DC.

In 2015 and 2019, he was appointed as member of the UN Secretary General Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of Peace Building Architecture and leader of the Secretary General Team to review the UN Office for the Central Africa Region (UNOCA). Mr Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah is a founding member of Transparency International and member of its Consultative Council. He sits in a number of Advisory Boards of profit and non-profit organizations. He published books and papers on issues related to conflict, security issues and strategy.