The
First Lady of Syria
Asma Akhras Al-Assad
As the first lady of Syria, Asma Akhras al-Assad initiates
and supports programs designed to foster economic
development and improve the quality of life for all Syrian
people. She focuses her energies on issues concerning rural
development technology.
In July 2001, she established Syria’s first rural
development NGO, known as the Fund for Integrated Rural
Development of Syria (FIRDOS). 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, Mrs. 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.
Disadvantaged children are of particular concern to Mrs.
Assad. She works tirelessly to raise public awareness of
children in special circumstances and draws attention to
their emotional and psychological needs. In her speeches
and public appearances, she stresses the importance of the
family nucleus ‘a strong family is a strong society’.
Her interest in Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) began during her school years and has developed over
the years. In July 2002, she initiated the first Mobile
Information Center (MIC) in the Middle East, to help bridge
the gap between the information-rich and information-poor
communities in Syria. The MIC serves the purpose of a fully
equipped mobile computer classroom, which travels through
Syria’s remote villages to conduct ICT literacy
programs.Mrs. Assad is an active sponsor of events that
promote the history, culture and arts of Syria.
She attended King’s College University of London and
graduated in 1996 with a bachelor of Science first class
honors 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 JP
Morgan, London. She specialized in Mergers and Acquisitions
for Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical companies. During the
three years she spent at JP Morgan, she was sent to their
Paris office for 9 months and to the New York office for 18
months, where she advised and executed four large merger
transactions for both European and American clients.
After leaving JP Morgan in November 2000, she returned to
Syria and married Bashar al-Assad in December 2000. On
December 3, 2001, they became the proud parents of their
first-born child, named Hafez after his late grandfather.
Then Zein was born on November 5, 2003, and Kareem on
December 16, 2004.
She was born in London on August 11, 1975 to Fawaz and
Sahar Akhras. Her father is a Harley Street Consultant
Cardiologist and her mother previously held the diplomatic
Post of First Secretary in the Syrian Embassy in London.
She has two younger brothers, Feras who is studying
Medicine and Eyad who is studying for a Master of Science
degree in the History of International Relations. She lived
in London for the first 25 years of her life. She speaks
Arabic, English, French and Spanish.
Today she brings her experienced viewpoints and her focus
on sustainable development to a much broader audience as
the wife of the president of the Syrian Arab Republic,
Bashar al-Assad.
source : Syrian Embassy in Washington DC