Mustapha Cherif, a university professor, was Algerian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Algerian Ambassador to Egypt and permanent delegate at the Arab League. He is signatory cofounder of the Letter A Common Word and is member of the World Catholic-Muslim Forum. He has published about one hundred articles and various books on dialogue between civilisations and religions. His next book, Un intellectuel musulman chez le Pape, is due to come out in 2010.