Category: Invited guests

President of the National Science and Art Foundation. Former President of the Romanian Academy (1998-2006). Professor of modern literature at the University of Bucharest. Between 1970 and 1973 he was professor at Sorbonne University, Paris. He published about 30 books on the Romanian and European literature among which Ficţiunea jurnalului intim I-III (The fiction of the intim diary I-III), Genurile biograficuluiI-II (Biographical genre I-II), Tânărul Eugen Ionescu (The young Eugène Ionescu), Mircea Eliade un spirit al amplitudinii (Mircea Eliade A spirit of Amplitude), Întoarcerea autorului (sau Contre, Sainte-Proust). He holds a PhD in Philological Sciences.

Former member of the Israeli Knesset (member for 30 years). Born in Morocco, he emigrated to Israel in 1957 and served in a number of high-level cabinet positions, including Minister of the Interior, Minister of Housing and Construction, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, Minister of Intelligence Affairs and the Committee of Atomic Energy, Minister of Transportation and Minister of Education, Culture and Sports. He was first elected to the Knesset in 1981 and served as Mayor of the City of Yavne. He holds a BA and a MA from Bar-Ilan University. He is Head of leadership & public management in the MBA program at Ruppin Academic Center.

President of IBEI, Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals. He is also Vice-President de Telefónica Chile and Councillor of Telecomunicaciones de São Paulo S/A –TELESP. Previously, he was President of CIDOB (2000-2012) and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. He also served as Vice-President of the Spanish Government, Minister of Defence and Mayor of Barcelona. He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Barcelona and a Ph.D. in Economics from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).

Co-president of the International Resource Panel and co-president of the Club of Rome. He served as Dean of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California. He chaired the University of Kassel before serving as Director at the UN Centre for Science and Technology in New York. He was Director of the Institute for European Environment Policy in Bonn, Paris and London (1984-1991), Founder and President of the Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in Wuppertal, Germany (1991-2000), member of the German Parliament (1998-2005). He graduated from the University of Freiburg, with a PhD in biology.

Former General Commissioner for Investment (2014-2018). He served as Chairman of the French Foreign Affairs Council until 2017 and currently serves as Special Representative of the French Foreign Minister for the Franco-Japanese partnership. He was Chairman and CEO of Renault (1992-2005). During his tenure, he was also President of the Management Board of Renault Nissan BV (2002-2005). Formerly, he was a Civil Servant at the Budget Department and then served as Chief of Staff of Laurent Fabius, Minister of Budget in 1981, Minister for Industry and Research in 1983, and Prime Minister (1984-1986). Since 2012, he is vice chairman of IFRI.

President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India’s premier think tank, headquartered in New Delhi. His research focuses on issues of global governance, climate change and energy policy, technology and media, and India’s foreign policy. He curates the Raisina Dialogue, India’s annual flagship platform on geopolitics and geo-economics, and is the founder of CyFy, India’s annual conference on cybersecurity and internet governance. He spearheads the foundation’s efforts to foster new international partnerships and incubate young leaders networks and youth led conversations globally. Samir is a member of the India-CEO Climate Action Group, Global Risks Advisory Board, and the Regional Action Group of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He has served as a Commissioner of The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. He is a member of the Board of Directors at ORF America. Samir has authored four books, edited important journals and publications and written several academic papers and book chapters. He is featured regularly in Indian and international print and broadcast media. His latest publications include The New World Disorder and The Indian Imperative with Shashi Tharoor and Pax Sinica: Implications for the Indian Dawn with Akhil Deo.

Chairman and CEO of Nur Energie. After working as a management consultant at McKinsey& Co., he co-founded the European Telecom and Media Investment Banking Practice at the Investment Bank Salomon Brothers (now Citigroup). In 2008, he founded Nur Energie, an industrial scale solar power plant developer.  He obtained a B.A. in Physics from Vassar College (New York) and a MBA from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris).

Attorney-at-law at Jones Day. His practice focuses on regulatory compliance and encompasses a broad range of government regulations, product safety, installment sales regulations, commercial transactions regulations, foreign direct investment regulation, energy and environment, and competition law. He represents various clients in civil disputes. He spent 35 years at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. During his tenure as Director-General of the Trade Policy Bureau and Vice Minister for International Affairs, he worked in the field of international trade policy. He served as Chief Executive Assistant to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (2009-2010).

Former President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Fertilizer Development Center. Currently he advises several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa on their agricultural sector development. Over the course of his career, Roy has been highly influential in shaping policy decisions, speaking before Heads of State and Ministers of Agriculture. In 2014, he co-edited Sustainable Phosphorus Management: A Global Transdisciplinary Roadmap. In 2012, he was appointed to the Steering Committee of the Global Nutrient Management Project of the UN Environment Program. He received his M.S. and Ph.D degrees in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA.

Chairman of the Board of the ClimateWorks Foundation, Founding Partner of Aqua International Partners, LP, Senior Advisor to TPG Capital, LP. In May 2010, he was appointed by President Obama to co-chair the National Commission on the BP Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. He was Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Administration of President George H. W. Bush, President of the World Wildlife Fund, head of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Earth Summit at Rio in 1992. He holds a B.A. degree from Yale, J.D. from Harvard and M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University.

Former Power Secretary of India. Energy expert and international negotiator. He was India Chair of World Energy Council. He is currently chairing the Energy and Environment Foundation, New Delhi, India, and also the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment for Infrastructure and Coastal Projects. He is also Scientific Consultant for Energy Technologies, Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India for developing Advanced Ultra Super Critical Technology. He studied Physics and Law at Delhi University and has been a Visiting Fellow of the University of Oxford. Among various awards, he received the Hiralal Daga Gold Medal in Law.

Former Director of the Energy Program at Ifri. He formerly served as Deputy Executive Director at the International Energy Agency (IEA), where he also managed relations with non-member countries. He also held the posts of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the US State Department and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Congo. As Head of the Office of Energy Producing Countries, he oversaw bilateral discussions on energy issues between the United States and Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Cooperation Council and Japan. He received a MBA in International Marketing from the University of Michigan and a Master’s in International Business and Raw Materials at Stanford University in California.

Executive Coach and Business Consultant. Former Western Europe Director, General Counsel and Vice President, Corporate and Governmental Affairs ,Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for DuPont de Nemours. She holds an Advanced Master Degree of International, Comparative and European Law from the Law Faculty of Paris .

President of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS). Professor at China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), he teaches mainly on China’s Contemporary Diplomacy and History of China-France Relationship. He was Vice President of CFAU and Minister to Chinese Embassy to France. He graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) in French language and literature, from China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU) in Diplomatic History and from the Institute of Political Studies (IEP Paris) with a doctor degree in politics.

President of Alcen, group composed of high technology companies in the fields of Defense and Security, Energy, Medical and Healthcare, Aeronautics and space, Large Scientific Instruments. He started his career as President of Tabur Marine and of Dufour. He served at Matra Group as Senior Vice President in charge of 4 departments (car electronics, robotics, computer-aided design and watchmaking). He set up and managed a telecommunication operator, Kaptech and an equipment manufacturer, Cirpack. He studied at the Ecole Polytechnique and at the Insead.

Regular contributor to The New York Review of Books; he has also written for The New Yorker (from 1971 to 1992), Foreign Affairs (New York), Commentaire (Paris), Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Politica Exterior(Madrid), etc. For a quarter century he wrote a political column for The International Herald Tribune in Paris. Author of nine books on American foreign policy, international relations, nationalism, political romanticism and utopianism, etc. The most recent of these books, The Irony of Manifest Destiny: The Tragedy of American Foreign Policy, dealing with the present American crisis, was published in 2010 by Walker & Co. in New York.

Member of Parliament since 1988 and member of several Knesset committees including the Economic Affairs and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees. He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, until June 2007.Born in Morocco, he emigrated to Israel at the age of four. He was elected Mayor of his town Sderot in 1983, bringing the left back to power. He publicly voiced his support for an independent Palestinian State and led peace-promoting initiatives between residents of the town and their neighbors in the Gaza Strip.

Born on 16th of February 1954, His Excellency Mr. PARK Heung-shin Graduated from the Department of International Relations at Seoul National University in Seoul in 1976. During his career, he also received training sessions at the National Management School (ENA, Ecole nationale d’administration, Promotion Montaigne) in France. Appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the French Republic, Mr. PARK Heung-Shin presented his credentials on January 15, 2010. He was awarded Commander, 1st Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland.

OECD Deputy Secretary-General since 2007 and Chief Economist since 2009. Prior to joining the OECD, he was Professor of Economics at the University La Sapienza of Rome, and Director of the Fondazione Italianieuropei, a policy think-tank focusing on economic and social issues. He was the Italian Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (2001-2005). He has been a consultant to the World Bank, European Commission, European Central Bank. He has a degree in Economics from the University of Rome. He has published widely in international academic journals and is the author and editor of several books.

Chairman, Chamber of Commerce and Industry France India, since 2009. He founded the India Trade Centre in 2007. He worked in the high-tech and internet industry, holding managing positions for technology leaders such as Netapp and Enition. He started in the luxury goods industry, heading several demanding positions, from Marketing to Business development, within famous brands (Dior, Celine, Lagerfeld, etc.) which he helped develop on the American continent. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Sorbonne University and a Master’s Degree in Science and Techniques from Dauphine University, Paris.

Chief Research and Strategy Officer of Microsoft Corp. He serves on the U.S. National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and the Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, and was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Mundie has spent much of his career building startups in various fields. He has served as Microsoft’s principal technology-policy liaison to the U.S. and foreign governments. Mundie holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in information theory and computer science from Georgia Tech.

6th Secretary General of the League of Arab States. He was Director of the Department of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to India. In 1990, he became the Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United Nations, New York and the year after, Minister for Foreign Affairs. He graduated from Cairo University, LLB Faculty of Law.

Director of the Pharos Observatory of cultural and religious pluralism and Coordinator of the political group of the OSCE Minsk Process on Ukraine. Former EU Special Representative for Central Asia and for the crisis in Georgia. He began his diplomatic career in 1971. He served at the French Embassy in Moscow. He also served as Diplomatic Advisor to the President of the French Republic. He was Ambassador to the Russian Federation (1992-1996) and was also accredited, while in residence in Moscow, to Georgia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and to Kyrgyzstan. He served as Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China and then to the Holy See. He is a graduate of the Institut d’études politiques in Paris, of the Paris Assas Faculty of Law and of the École nationale d’administration.

Researcher at Ifri and co-editor of its annual report, RAMSES. He is a graduate of IEP-Paris and of the École nationale d’administration (ENA). As a diplomat, he has held various administrative posts relating to the European Construction. He has taught at Sciences-Po Paris and in several universities. He is the author of many books and articles on international relations, geopolitics, global governance and the construction of Europe. His last two books are: L’histoire du monde pour les Nuls (The World History for Dummies), First-Editions, Paris; 2010; L’histoire de l’Europe pour les Nuls (The European History for Dummies), First-Editions, Paris; 2013.

High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain (2004-2010), he also served as Director of the Institute of Cooperation with the Arab World (1991-1993) and was appointed Director General of Foreign Policy for Africa and the Middle East (1993-1996). He held the position of Spain’s Ambassador in Israel (1996). He was the EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process (1996-2003). From 2010 to 2011 he joined parliamentary activities and ran to be elected Director-General of the FAO. In January 2012, he joined the team of the Global Dry Land Alliance in Qatar promoting this international treaty for food security. From 2012 to 2013 he was member of the High-level Advisory panel of the president of the 67th UN General Assembly. Prior to his appointment as High-Representative, Mr. Moratinos was the Honorary Chairman of the CIRSD Board of Advisers (Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development), Senior Advisor of Sustainable Development Solutions Network of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, member of the Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Honorary President of REDS, the SDSN Spanish network.

Marcus Wallenberg Professor of International Business and Finance Georgetown University; non-Resident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is consultant to the United Nations, to governments in Asia and Latin America, and to the international business field. He served as Senior Economic Advisor to the Policy Planning Staff of the Department of State. He received his PhD from Harvard in 1971.