Najib Azmi Mikati (Arabic: نجيب ميقاتي) (born 24 November 1955) is a Lebanese politician, billionaire and is the current Prime Minister of Lebanon since 13 June 2011. From April 2005 to July 2005 he was Prime Minister of Lebanon in a caretaker government. On January 25, 2011, Mikati was nominated to serve as Prime Minister by a majority of the votes in the parliamentary consultations following the 12 January fall of the Lebanese government of November 2009. The government was formed in June, after many delays.
Early Life
Mikati graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1980 with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. He also attended a summer school program held at Harvard and the prestigious French business school INSEAD.
Business career
He co-founded the telecommunications company Investcom with his brother Taha in 1982. He sold the company in June 2006 to South Africa's MTN Group for $5.5 billion. In 2011, Forbes estimated his wealth at $2.8 billion, making him the 409th richest person in the world.
Political career
After being appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of Public Works and Transport on 4 December 1998, he was elected to the National Assembly from his hometown of Tripoli in 2000, outpolling Omar Karami, who was elected from the same multimember constituency. As a parliamentarian, he retained his cabinet position and developed a reputation as a moderately pro-Syrian politician with a normal relationship with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
He was a perennial candidate for Lebanon's Prime Ministry since 2000, finally taking the office upon the resignation of Omar Karami on 13 April 2005.
He is the leader of the solidarity bloc which has had two seats in the Lebanese parliament since 2004.
From : www.wikipedia.org
