Profile: Egypt's interim Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi

Prominent economist Hazem al-Beblawi was appointed Tuesday by Egypt's caretaker President Adli Mansour as prime minister in the transitional government after days of political stalemate over the post. Al-Beblawi, in his 70s, had served as deputy prime minister for economic affairs and minister of finance in the cabinet of prime minister Essam Sharaf who resigned in late November 2011. Before being appointed as finance minister, al-Beblawi served as an advisor to the Arab Monetary Fund in Abu Dhabi from 2001. He was the executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia from 1995 to 2000. After four months in office as finance minister, Beblawi resigned over an incident which killed several Coptic Christians in clashes with security forces. His resignation wasn't accepted at the time and he stayed in office until December 2011. Al-Beblawi, a liberal who is known for advocating justice and democracy, was in the list of nominees for the post of prime minister after the presidential elections in 2012. Al-Beblawi was born in 1936. He obtained a degree in law from Cairo University and a postgraduate degree in economics from University of Grenoble. He received a PhD from Paris University in 1964. In his academic career, he was a lecturer at Alexandria University and taught economy courses in several universities in Egypt and abroad. He is the author of several books and articles about banking, finance, development and international trade. Al-Beblawi is a founding member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party that was formed after the upheaval that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. He worked as senior economist at the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development from 1974 to 1979, then served from 1980 to 1983 as manager of economic department of the Industrial Bank of Kuwait. From 1983 to 1995, he was the chairman of the Export Bank of Egypt.