UNESCO Elects New Director-General

November 21st 2025, by Alison Smedley

At the 43rd General Conference of UNESCO, held in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, delegates overwhelmingly elected Khaled Ahmed El-Enany Ali Ezz of Egypt as the organization’s new Director-General, with 172 votes out of a total of 174 ballots.

Khaled El-Enany’s appointment represents a milestone: he is the first Arab and only the second African to head UNESCO since its founding in 1945. He succeeds Audrey Azoulay of France, who has led UNESCO since 2017.

Khaled El-Enany is an Egyptologist and Professor of Egyptology at Helwan University in Egypt, where he has been teaching for over 30 years. He led the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization from 2014 to 2016 and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo from 2015 to 2016. From 2016 to 2022, he served as Minister of Antiquities and then Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of the Arab Republic of Egypt. In November 2024, he was appointed Special Ambassador for Cultural Tourism by the World Tourism Organization and, more recently, patron of the African World Heritage Fund.

Khaled El-Enany is the 12th Director-General of UNESCO. He is the first Director-General from an Arab country, and the second from Africa to hold this position since Amadou Mahtar Mbow (1974-1987) from Senegal. Mr El-Enany took office on 15 November, at the conclusion of the General Conference, for a four-year term.

James Bridge, Secretary-General of the UK National Commission for UNESCO, welcomed the election of Khaled El-Enany and said:

"We look forward to working closely with the new Director-General to advance the UK’s priorities across education, science and culture. Through the Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage (CCUH) programme, we are demonstrating how UNESCO sites can lead climate action and deliver locally rooted sustainability solutions in response to the climate crisis. Through Local to Global, we continue to build adaptive networks that connect people and places, strengthening collaboration across the UK’s UNESCO designations. We remain committed to maximising the UK’s contribution to UNESCO’s mission, reinforcing multilateral cooperation, and ensuring our communities benefit from participation in this unparalleled global network.”

Read more about the announcement and appointment on the UNESCO website.