Asma Al Amri

Her Excellency Asma bint Naji Al Amri is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Croatia and a former Minister Plenipotentiary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has devoted her career to representing and serving Qatar, turning the difficulties of life abroad into a source of resolve and purpose.

She was born in Al Wakrah in September 1974 into a traditional Qatari family of three daughters and four sons. Her father served in the police and embodied the protection of the vulnerable: to his family, he represented honesty and loyalty, a watchful presence and a hand extended to anyone in need.

Her father’s work took the family first to Mesaieed, where she attended primary school, and later back to Al Wakrah for middle and secondary education. A simple childhood centred on family, friends and community gatherings. Initially shy and quiet, she gradually assumed more responsibility at home and developed the independence that later supported work abroad.

She graduated from Qatar University in 1997 with a degree in English Language Arts. Her ambition was diplomatic service, but women had not yet entered that field in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The creation of its first women’s section provided the opening: she joined the first cohort and helped establish the Department of Research, Analysis and Information Technology during a period of major change in Qatar.

The new section received high-level support. Visits from His Highness the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani and senior officials reinforced the team’s sense of responsibility. Although the women were initially appointed as administrators rather than diplomats, the quality of their work helped demonstrate their ability to handle complex political and analytical responsibilities.

She began as a researcher in Research, Analysis and Information Technology and later moved to the Department of European and American Affairs. The experience developed her ability to select and assess political information and became an important foundation for later diplomatic responsibilities.

In 2013, she entered the diplomatic corps as First Secretary and later became a counsellor. She was appointed Assistant Director of the Department of American Affairs in 2014 and Minister Plenipotentiary in February 2018. At the end of 2020, she transferred to Qatar’s embassy in Washington and began work there on 4 January 2021.

Travel had long been delayed by family circumstances, and deciding to leave Qatar required extensive consultation, particularly with her mother. Life in Washington brought loneliness, cultural difference and the emotional tension between service to country and attachment to home, but the experience also developed her personality and diplomatic judgement.

She maintained close family ties while meeting the demands of representation abroad. The gradual path from the ministry’s first women’s section to senior diplomatic responsibility culminated in November 2023, when she became Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Qatar to the Republic of Croatia.