Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf

Al-Hajraf... Second Kuwaiti as Secretary General of the GCC

(See translation in Arabic section)

Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf of Kuwait was confirmed as the incoming GCC Secretary General; the second Kuwaiti to be so since the bloc's inception in 1981.

According to his biography, Al-Hajraf has a vast experience in public and private sector management, education, and financial consulting.

Prior to his appointment, he served as Kuwait's chief regulator of marketable securities in his capacity as the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners and Managing Director of the Kuwait Capital Markets Authority (CMA) from 2014 to 2017.

He has previously served as Kuwait Minister of Finance for a brief period in 2012, and Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education from 2012 to 2014. His most recent cabinet post was also as Finance Minister from November 2017 until his resignation in November 2019.

Al-Hajraf holds a Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance from the University of Hull, UK and a Master's in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as a bachelor's degree in accounting from Kuwait University.

Furthermore, he was Vice President of Gulf University for Science and Technology for Academic Services.

Chronologically, Abdullah Bishara (Kuwait) was the first secretary general of the GCC; 11 years, from 1981 to 1993. He was succeeded by Fahim Al-Qasimi (UAE) from 1993 to 1996.

Jamil Al-Hejailan (Saudi Arabia) assumed the position and stayed until 2002, and was followed by Abdurrahman Al-Attiyah (Qatar) who served between 2002 and 2011.

The current GCC chief Abdulatif Al-Zayani (Bahrain) assumed the position in 2011 and is expected to step down in 2020.