AAPI Names Former Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, To Its Honorary Advisory Council

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Effective November 14, 2022, former Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, is named to the Honorary Advisory Council of the Abraham Accords Peace Institute (AAPI).

Former Chancellor Kurz joins Senator Joe Lieberman, Mr. Haim Saban, Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba (UAE), Ambassador Abdullah Al Khalifa (BAH), Ambassador Michael Herzog (ISR), Her Highness Princess Lalla Joumala (MOR), The Honorable Jared Kushner, Founder, Abraham Accords Peace Institute, The Honorable Avi Berkowitz, Chairman, Abraham Accords Peace Institute Honorary Advisory Council, and The Honorable Robert Greenway, President and Executive Director, Abraham Accords Peace Institute.

“We are honored to welcome former Chancellor Kurz to our Honorary Advisory Council,” Robert Greenway, President and Executive Director of AAPI said regarding the appointment. “We look forward to benefitting from former Chancellor Kurz’s advice on our efforts to increase European support for strengthening and expanding the Abraham Accords.”

Kurz is a former Austrian politician who twice served as Chancellor of Austria. He joined the Young People's Party (JVP) in 2003 and worked to ascend to party leadership in the subsequent years. Kurz received his first government position as State Secretary because of a cabinet reshuffle in 2011. Two years later, as a result of the 2013 legislative election, Kurz became Austria’s Foreign Minister and remained its chief diplomat until December 2017. Kurz became Chancellor of Austria after his party emerged the victor of the 2017 Austrian legislative election. He remained Chancellor of Austria until May of 2019 and again served from January 2020 through October 2021. Kurz was credited with being the youngest head of state in Europe during his tenure and now spends a significant amount of his time in Israel and the Arab region.

On his appointment, former Chancellor Kurz said, “The Abraham Accords were a historic milestone and achieved what previously had been regarded as impossible. I am therefore honored to have the opportunity to become a member of the Honorary Advisory Council and to help sustain and expand the accords. I hope more countries will follow in their footsteps and look forward to the many ways Europe can make important contributions in the future.”

 ###