Asma al-Assad
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Asma Fawaz Akhras (Arabic: أسماء الأخرس), also known after her husband's family name as Asma Al-Assad, is the First Lady of Syria. She was born in London, England, on August 11, 1975, but her family is originally from Homs. She married President Bashar al-Assad in 2000, having previously pursued a career in merchant banking.
Mrs. Assad was born as Asma Akhras and was known to many as "Emma". [1] She is from the west London town of Acton. Although she is now known as "Asma Al-Assad", there is no rule or clause in the Syrian law to change a woman's name after marriage like for Asma's family name from Akhras to Al-Assad.
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[edit] Career
Unlike previous Syrian First Ladies, she has maintained a higher profile at state, diplomatic, and charitable events. In 2004 Asma al-Assad was awarded an Honorary doctorate in Archaeology from La Sapienza University, Rome.
She is the daughter of prominent Syrian cardiologist Fawaz Akhras.
As the first lady of Syria, Asma Akhras al-Assad initiated and supported programs designed to foster economic development and improve the quality of life for all Syrian people. She has focused her energies on issues concerning rural development technology.
In July 2001, she established Syria’s first rural development N.G.O., known as the Fund for Integrated Rural Development of Syria (F.I.R.D.O.S.) The fund aims to play a leading role in advancing comprehensive and sustainable human development through the direct participation of the Syrian population. During her frequent visits to villages and local communities throughout the country, Assad stresses the importance of strengthening and enhancing the capacity of communities, whilst respecting the positive values of local culture and heritage.
Mrs. Assad is committed to highlighting the key role of women in the development process and to facilitating their participation. She recently hosted the "Women and Education" forum which gathered First Ladies from six various Arab countries and delegations from all 22 Arab countries. The three-day event gathered viewpoints and opinions on new trends and methodologies in education. She actively supports the Syrian Business Women’s Committee in the Chamber of Commerce. In April 2002, she hosted the Women in Business Conference, the largest gathering of businesswomen in the Middle East.
On World Children’s Day in June 2002, Mrs. Assad launched the first National Children’s Book Fair, which featured authors, artists and publishers from around the country. She believes learning is the product of an open and diversified society and access to knowledge, experience, and the enhancement of learning will improve the quality of life. She encourages parents to spend more time with their children, to involve them in family affairs and to always ask for and respect their opinions.
Her interest in Information and Communication Technology (I.C.T.) began during her school years and has developed over the years. In July 2002, she initiated the first Mobile Information Center (M.I.C.) in the Middle East, to help bridge the gap between the information-rich and information-poor communities in Syria. The M.I.C. serves the purpose of a fully equipped mobile computer classroom, which travels through Syria’s remote villages to conduct I.C.T. literacy programs. She is an active sponsor of events that promote the history, culture and arts of Syria.
She attended King's College of London and graduated in 1996 with a BSc first class honours degree in Computer science and a Diploma in French Literature. After university, she spent six months traveling throughout the Far East and Europe. Upon her return in 1997, she started work at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in London (now known as Deutsche Bank) as an analyst in the Hedge fund Management section of Sales and Trading. She covered clients in the Far East and Europe.
In 1998, she joined the Investment banking division of J.P. Morgan, London. She specialized in Mergers and Acquisitions for Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. During the three years she spent at J.P. Morgan, she was sent to their Paris office for nine months and to the New York office for eighteen months, where she advised and executed four large merger transactions for both European and American clients.
After leaving J.P. Morgan in November 2000, she returned to Syria and married Bashar al-Assad in December 2000. On December 3, 2001, they became the parents of their first-born child, named Hafez after his late grandfather. Zein was born on November 5, 2003, and Kareem on December 16, 2004.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Syrian Embassy in Washington, D.C.-- The First Lady: Asma Akhras al-Assad
- al-Bawaba Middle East Info.-- Asma al-Assad
- Nightly News with Brian Williams (05-09-07)-- "Ann Curry interviews Asma on NBC"
