Rafik Abdessalem

Position: Foreign affairs minister

Biography: Rafik Abdessalem is a member of the Ennahda party. He is the son-in-law of Rached Gannouchi, Ennahda’s party leader. Abdessalem was a member of Ennahda’s executive bureau in charge of media between 2001 and 2007 when the party worked in exile.

He then became a member of Ennahda’s advisory council until the party returned to Tunisia. Prior to his current role as foreign affairs minister, Abdessalem worked as head of research and studies for the Al-Jazeera Centre for Studies in Doha.

From 1987, he was a member of the executive office of the Tunisian Students General Union. He then moved to Morocco in 1990, where he completed a degree in philosophy at Mohammed V University in Rabat. He subsequently moved to the UK to study for a doctorate in politics and international relations at the University of Westminster. In London, he founded the Maghreb Centre for Research and Translation.

Contact Tel: (+216) 71 847 500