The economist and career diplomat Fathallah Sijilmassi holdsa Phd in International Economics from the University of Grenoble and is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies of Grenoble.

After having worked at the "Banque Commerciale du Maroc" (currently Attijariwafabank) in Milan (Italy) from 1989 to 1992 and then at the Moroccan Foreign Trade Ministry from 1992 to 1999, he held at the Moroccan Ministry for Foreign Affairs, several senior level positions: Director of Multilateral Cooperation (1999-2001) and Director of European Affairs (2001-2003). In 2003, he was appointed as Ambassador to the European Union in Brussels (2003-2004), then to France (2005-2009).

From 2009 to 2012, back to Rabat (Morocco) was appointed CEO of the newly created Moroccan Agency for the Investments Development (AMDI). During this period, many international companies and SMEs chose Morocco as their regional platform.

From 2012 to 2018, Fathallah Sijilmassi was Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), an international organization, with headquarters in Barcelona (Spain), bringing together 43 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region and whose vocation is to promote regional dialogue and cooperation.

Ambassador Fathallah Sijilmassi will impart a 6 hour course on Europe’s relations with it Southern neighbourhood at this year's edition of the Barcelona Summer School in Global Politics, Development and Security, which will take place at IBEI from 19 to 21 of June.