André Azoulay

In this context, Azoulay was elected on 5 March 2008 and reelected on 9 September 2011 as President of the Euro-Mediterranean Anna Lindh Foundation, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Mediterranean Council for Culture (Paris). He is also a board member of the Mediterranean Study and Research Centre (Marseille), the Yala online leadership Academy, and the Institut de Prospective et d’Etudes pour le Monde Méditerranéen (Paris).

In August 2005, Azoulay was also nominated member of the "High-Level Group" for the "Alliance of Civilizations, set up by the United Nations. Instigated by Spain and co-sponsored by Turkey, this initiative is addressing the issue of the relations between Islam and the Western world.

With his wife Katia, also born in Essaouira, who published 2 books "Essaouira-Mogador : Parfums d’Enfance" and "Essaouira-Mogador : Passion partagée", Azoulay is the architect of the renaissance of the city they both hold very dear to their hearts. He is active in the promotion and revival of his home town which has a specific place in the historical, cultural, and spiritual heritage of Morocco. He is the founder and president of the Association Essaouira-Mogador, which was established in 1992 as an original approach to the sustainable development of the city based on its cultural diversity and spiritual legacy.

As a counselor of the late King Hassan II from (1991 to 1999), and since then of King Mohammed VI, André Azoulay has largely contributed to the implementation of economic reforms, which have been applied throughout the kingdom since their inception in the early 1990s. He also played a significant role in the privatization and deregulation programs which began in 1993. He emphasized the need for sustaining the role of the private sector and encouraging international investment to sustain economic growth in Morocco. Azoulay has also largely contributed to promoting Morocco throughout the world.

André Azoulay (Arabic: أندري أزولاي, Berber: ⴰⵏⴷⵔⵉ ⴰⵣⵓⵍⴰⵢ, born 17 April 1941) is a Moroccan Jewish senior adviser to king Mohammed VI of Morocco. He previously advised Mohammed's father, king Hassan II. He currently presides over the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue Between Cultures, based in Alexandria, Egypt. He is also President of the executive committee of the Foundation for the Three Cultures and the Three Religions, based in Seville, Spain, a founding member of the C-100 Davos Forum for the Dialogue of Civilisations and religions, and was formerly Executive Vice-president of the BNP Paribas, Paris. His daughter is UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

Born in Essaouira, in 1941 to a Berber, as he declared it himself, Moroccan Jewish family, Azoulay was educated in Paris where he studied economics, journalism, and international relations. Previously to his current position as Counsellor to the King of Morocco, Azoulay had a long career within the Paribas Bank in Paris (1968 to 1990) where, as Executive Vice-president, he covered the Middle East and North Africa Region as well as heading the bank's public affairs department.