Akram Razek is the General Counsel for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey at Astellas Pharma, with over two decades of experience spanning the private sector, governments, the United Nations, and in-house legal roles. He began his career in Egypt at a major law firm before being recruited by the Egyptian government to handle World Trade Organization (WTO) matters under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. In this role, he was responsible for negotiating proposals and position papers on WTO issues, particularly in Intellectual Property Rights and Trade Remedies. He then joined the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) in Beirut, providing legal support to member governments on WTO adherence and trade issues. Returning to Egypt, he joined Ernst & Young Law, offering legal services in M&A and Intellectual Property, and was seconded to the Middle East Fraud Investigation Team to work on the UN Oil for Food Programme Investigation in Iraq. Then he returned back to private sector by joining a major law firm, before he joined PepsiCo as in-house counsel in Egypt, Saudi and UAE covering regional roles across the Middle East and North Africa.