H.E. Mr. Waleed Shamlan Ahmad Al-Bahar

Mr. Waleed Shamlan Ahmad Al-Bahar has been serving as the Acting Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Development since 2023, following a professional career spanning more than four decades within the Fund, during which he gained extensive expertise in leading development programs and managing international cooperation.

Mr. Al-Bahar holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of North Carolina in the United States, in addition to a specialized certificate in Finance and Global Banking from the Economics Institute Program in collaboration with the University of Colorado. He began his career in 1984 in the Operations Department’s technical unit, and in 1993 assumed the position of Head of the Central Asia and Europe Division. In 1999, he became Regional Manager for those countries, before also being tasked with overseeing the portfolios of East, Central, and Southern African nations. In 2008, he was appointed Regional Manager for East and South Asia and the Pacific. He went on to become Director of Operations in 2018, then Deputy Director General for Operations Affairs in 2022, culminating in his current role as Acting Director General.

Alongside his leadership responsibilities within the Fund, Mr. Al-Bahar represents the State of Kuwait in several regional and international funds and organizations. He has served as Kuwait’s Governor to the OPEC Fund for International Development since 2021, and he also represents the country on the Administrative Committee of the Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem Funds, as well as on the Coordinating Committee for the Gaza Reconstruction Program since 2018. He previously held the position of Alternate Governor of Kuwait at the OPEC Fund for International Development (2015–2021) and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Arab Planning Institute (2018–2021). In addition, he represented Kuwait for more than 20 years in the Chernobyl Fund at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and served on the Board of Directors of the Kuwait Land Transport Company early in his career.

Mr. Al-Bahar possesses extensive experience in international cooperation, having served as a liaison between the Kuwait Fund and both the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank. He has contributed to the development of partnerships with major international financial institutions. He also represented the Fund in official delegations accompanying the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah—may he rest in peace—on visits to Iraq, France, and several African countries. Moreover, he has participated in numerous international conferences and joint committees on behalf of the State of Kuwait and the Fund.