Ahmad Mukhtar is a Senior Economist and Head of Strategy and Policy Team at the Regional Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for Near East and North Africa, based in Cairo, Egypt. He is leading the economic analysis and reporting on FAO’s priority areas in the Near East and North Africa to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including the socioeconomic aspects of food security, rural transformation, food and agricultural policy, institutional reform, sustainable and healthy food systems, natural resource conservation and climate change impacts. He has over 20 years of experience in public, private and international development sectors, working on national and international/multilateral assignments in the areas of international economic and trade policy, agriculture economics and trade, public health, commercial diplomacy, bilateral and regional trade issues, and the implementation of trade and investment policies. Prior to joining the FAO regional office, he worked at the FAO office in Geneva. Before that he worked with the UNCTAD, UNDP, and Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the WTO. He led the multilateral negotiations on Domestic Regulations for Trade in Services as Chairman of the WTO Working Party on Domestic Regulations (2010-2011). He has educational and professional qualifications in Economics, Law, Public Policy, Finance, and Biotechnology.