Mbarka Bouaida (born 1975) is aMoroccan politician who served as Minister-Delegate of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in theBenkirane government. In July 2019, she was elected president of the southeast regionGuelmim-Oued Noun, the first woman elected as a Moroccanregional leader.
Bouaida was born in 1975 in Laqssabi nearGuelmim.[1] She is ofSahrawi origin, of the Aït Lahcen tribe, part of theTekna confederation.[2]
Bouaida has a degree from the Graduate School of Management inCasablanca, andMBA from theUniversity of Hull and a Masters in Communication from theUniversity of Toulouse.[1][3]
Bouaida was Director of Audit and Management Control for thePetrom Group from 2003.
Bouaida is a member of theNational Rally of Independents and was elected under thewomen's quota to theHouse of Representatives to representAnfa in 2007, making her the parliament's youngest member.[1][2] She chaired the Committee of Foreign Affairs and the National Defence and Religious Affairs and was in charge of relations between the Moroccan andEuropean Parliaments.[4] In June 2009, she was also elected to the city council ofGreater Casablanca.[1]
Bouaida was elected to a second parliamentary term outside the women's quota in 2010.[5] She was appointed Minister-Delegate for Foreign Affairs byKing Mohammed VI on 10 October 2013.[3] From 2017, she served as Secretary of State to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.[6]
Bouaida has been Vice-President of the International Parliamentarian Forum for Democracy since September 2011 and is a Member of theNorth-South Centre of theCouncil of Europe. She is also the General Secretary of the Moustaqbal Association for Education.[4] She was named "Young Global Leader" by theWorld Economic Forum in 2012.[3] She also represents Morocco in theEuro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly.[2] In 2015, she led Morocco's delegation to theWhite House Summit on Countering Extreme Violence led byJoe Biden.[7]
On 5 July 2019, Bouaida was elected regional leader ofGuelmim-Oued Noun, the first woman in the country elected as a regional leader.[6]