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James Martin is a foreign policy, assistance, and international business consultant with extensive experience promoting economic and business climate reforms and assisting American business in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. During a 22-year career in the Foreign Service, he served as a diplomat in Egypt, Sudan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi. He also worked on Egypt, Iraq, trade, and refugee issues in Washington assignments. Following his retirement from the Foreign Service in 2007, he worked as a contractor on foreign assistance issues at the State Department, most recently managing a climate change assistance program averaging over $100 million annually from 2010 to 2013.
Mr. Martin is a four-time recipient of the State Department’s Superior Honor Award. He holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.A. from Georgetown University. He speaks German and Uzbek, and has some proficiency in French, Russian, Thai, and Arabic.
Reporting on Egypt since the July 3 ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi has focused on political dimensions and unrest. However, it is the new government’s success—or lack thereof—in meeting the country’s economic challenges that will largely determine whether Egypt returns to stability, just as surely as it was Egypt’s economic woes that underpinned the country’s repudiation of Morsi.
