H.E. Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa is undersecretary for international affairs at the ministry of foreign affairs of the kingdom of Bahrain, a post he has held since August 2015. Al Khalifa was appointed chairman of the board of trustees at Derasat, the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies. Previously, Al Khalifa held the post of director general for external communications at the Information Affairs Authority of Bahrain, during which he played a pivotal role in drawing up and implementing a strategy for strengthening the country’s national communications and public engagement. He also served as a political advisor to the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Defense in Bahrain, and as a legal specialist at the Bahrain Economic Development Board from 2007-09. Al Khalifa also served as a research assistant with the Dean of Law Faculty at Queen Mary University of London from 2008-09. In 2015, he was awarded a PhD in international relations and diplomacy from the École des Hautes Études Internationales, France, and in 2008, earned an LLM from Queen Mary University of London, focusing on negotiation and mediation. Al Khalifa also holds a diploma in political development from the Bahrain Institute for Political Development (2007) and a bachelor of law from the Applied Science University in Jordan (2006). He is an international expert in mediation, accredited by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in London. Al Khalifa is also accredited as a master practitioner in neuro linguistic programming by the National Federation of Neuro Linguistic Programming in the United States. Al Khalifa speaks Arabic, English, and French.