Category: Invited guests

Managing Director of Pure Harvest & PlanTFarm JV Operations, Joint venture business between a leading CEA company in UAE and a leading indoor vertical farm company in Korea. He has 30+ years of experiences in brand strategies, global marketing management, and product innovation, with sector-specific expertise in both IT and food industries. Previously, he served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Coway, and before that as the Vice President of Global Marketing at Samsung Electronics. As the Head of Product Planning and Management, he led the global refrigerator business at Samsung Electronics. He also served as the Head of Product Strategy & Innovations at Bowers&Wilkins and the Vice President at General Mills. Other prior experiences in food sector, incl. Kellogg’s, and IT sector, incl. Motorola. Mr. Park received a M.A. in Marketing from University of Alabama and BBA from Korea University.

Engineer from the Corps des mines, and Head of the Bourgogne Franche-Comté Regional Economic Service, and Economic Representative to the Regional Prefect. She has worked in various organizations, companies and think tanks in Europe (Germany, UK), Southeast Asia (Singapore) and New Caledonia, on energy, industrial, resources and digital issues. She also took part in the World Material Forum as Below 25. As part of her studies, she wrote a report for the French Ministry of Economy and Finance in 2023 about the French reindustrialization.

President & CEO of BLG Logistics, Inc., the US subsidiary of the BLG Group, specializing in facility-based, contract logistics in North America. BLG Logistics enjoys a dedicated team of over 220 professionals focused on processes, IT systems and automation for automotive, retail and heavy industrial brands. As a current member of the Board for the German American Chamber of Commerce South in Atlanta, Kirk actively contributes to fostering business and education between North America and Germany. He serves also as Chairman of the Board for the Alabama Germany Partnership and holds a director position on the Birmingham Industrial Development Board.

Associate Director of Ifri’s Geoeconomics and Geofinance initiative, Professor of Economics at Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Paris), where he holds the chair Jean-Baptiste Say of industrial economics. He is also a member of France’s Council of Economic Advisers (Conseil d’analyse économique) and National Productivity Council (CNP), a Research Associate with CEPII, a Policy Associate with GEP (University of Nottingham, UK), and a fellow of CESifo Research Network (Munich, Germany). He has previously been Director of CEPII, the French leading centre for research and expertise in international economics, from 2012 to 2021, after holding positions at INRAE and OECD. His research and policy works mainly deal with the applied economic analysis of globalization, with special emphasis on international trade, trade policies, and international economic policy. He has taught in various institutions. He graduated from the École centrale de Paris and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Paris-1.

Global Head of Commodities Markets at Natixis, a company he joined in 2018. He has over twenty years of experience in the oil and energy derivative trading markets. He started his career in 1996 at Elf Trading (now Totalfina Elf) in Geneva as a junior oil trader. In 1998, he joined TFS in London, then moved to Crown Commodities the following year. In 2000, he joined BP, spending seven years with the firm in London and Chicago, establishing and running their worldwide oil options proprietary trading business and serving as Global Head of the oil derivatives trading and marketing teams. In 2007, he joined Morgan Stanley as a senior options trader in the oil derivatives trading desk. In 2009, he joined the Trafigura Group in Geneva, establishing and managing its energy trading fund. In 2013, he moved to Gunvor, also in Geneva, developing the firm’s proprietary options trading activity.

Deputy Director General of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy.

Cultural Advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates. His Excellency Zaki Nusseibeh is also Chancellor of the UAE and former Minister of State for Cultural and Public Diplomacy.

Cabinet Member and Minister of State for Defence Affairs of the United Arab Emirates. His Excellency Mohammed Al Bowardi joined the Federal Government in February 2016 as the Minister of State for Defence. In addition to his ministerial role, he is the Vice Chairman of Mubadala Development Company and Dolphin Energy Limited, and board member of Tawazun Holding. He is also the Chairman of the Committee for Developing and Implementing the Water and Agriculture Strategy for Abu Dhabi. Furthermore, Al Bowardi is the Managing Director and board member of the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi, Deputy Chairman of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund and the International Fund for Houbara Conservation- Abu Dhabi, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Abu Dhabi University ADU. Al Bowardi has previously held the positions of Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence, Secretary-General of the General Secretariat of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of the Executive Committee. His Execllency Mohammed Al Bowardi holds bachelor degree in History and Political Science from Lewis & Clark College, USA.

UAE Ambassador to the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

Director General a.i. of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy. In this role, he oversees the projects in the department, which contribute to domestic and international debates on issues relevant to the UAE’s foreign policy and diplomacy, and act as an impactful source of analysis for the UAE government. With a career spanning over 20 years in Middle East and European politics, H.E. served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Envoy to the Middle East Quartet between 2015 and 2020. In 2013 H.E. was appointed as United Nations Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). H.E. Mladenov was active in Bulgarian politics, both in government and opposition. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2013 and as the Minister of Defense from 2009 to 2010. H.E. was also a Member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2009. He also led the EU Election Observation Mission to Ghana for the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2008. In February 2021, he was awarded the Grand Star of the Order of Jerusalem by President Mahmoud Abbas. H.E. Mladenov was educated at King’s College London, where he obtained an MA in War Studies and prior to that he graduated from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, where he majored in International Relations.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia since 2019. His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud is also Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Saudi Military Industries Corporation and Chairman of the Executive Committee. Previously, he served as Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Senior Advisor at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Washington (2017 – 2019). He was Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alsalam Aerospace Company and then Chairman of the Board between 2001 and 2013. He served in several administrations in both private and public sectors between 2001 and 2019.

Senior Director of Space Engineering Department at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre. Head of the Satellite Development Program as part of the UAE National Space Programme. He held several leadership roles at MBRSC from SW unit, to Space Systems Section. He held different roles in the main MBRSC Space projects, as head of AIT of DubaiSat-1, Deputy Project Manager of DubaiSat-2, Project Manager of KhalifaSat, the first UAE satellite to be developed in the UAE, with 100% UAE leadership. He is currently the project Manager of MBZSat, named after HH Shielh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE. This mission is in particular a key milestone for the Space industry im the UAE, as it has a major development fone by the UAE private sector. This mission aims at localising the Space economy with strong partnership between government and private sector. He was awarded the UAE Pride Medal in 2014, for his achievement in building the engineering and scientific capabilities of UAE nationals. He holds a bachelor degree in Electronic Engineering, and a Master degree in Aerospace Engineering.

Chief Economist of the West African Development Bank (BOAD). He is responsible for improving the Bank’s access to international capital markets at a time when the institution is committed to strengthening its equity capital to support the economic and social development of WAEMU countries. A senior financial analyst with nearly 30 years of experience with European banks and investment banks, he began his career with the Crédit Agricole Group (Paris-France) in 1987 where he held, among other responsibilities, the position of Head of the team of financial analysts responsible for monitoring European banks. His career path led him successively to Paris and London within the teams of Exane BNP Paribas, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, ING Wholesale banking and Mediobanca Securities.

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the United Arab Emirates, since August 2022. Previously, he has been Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium to the People’s Republic of China, and to Mongolia (2019 – 2022). From 2016 to 2019, he worked at the Directorate General for European Affairs (Brussels, Belgium); Horizontal EU external policy coordination, focal point for Belgium (European Correspondent 2017-2019); Coordinator for the Middle East and Northern Africa Regions (2016-2017); Belgian Senior Official for the Union for the Mediterranean, Belgian Coordinator for the relations between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council, and between the EU and the League of Arab States. From 2012 to 2016, he was Head of the Economic Department, Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium to the Republic of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and The Maldives. From 2009 to 2012, he worked as Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium to Lebanon. Previously, he was Attorney at Law in Belgium (1999 – 2008).

Co-founder and CEO of TiLT Capital Partners, an asset management company dedicated to energy transition. Its first fund focused on growth capital for European SMEs in the sector has reached €320m in subscriptions. To date, TiLT has invested in 9 companies in France, Germany, Spain and Norway. Up until 2018, Nicolas was SVP in charge of M&A and Corporate Development for Engie, a Paris based energy company employing then over 150 000 people across 70 countries. He’s been working in the field of energy and project development / M&A for the last 18 years, after 5 years in HR working on social sustainability. He is also a First Mover Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Currently based in Paris, Nicolas lived in Brussels and Rome and spent a lot of time on transactions in the US, China, Russia, South-East Asia and South America. Sustainability and ethics have been at the core of his motivation, fueled by his graduation in Philosophy and Political Sciences and translated into a PhD in Economics on this topic, earned magna cum laude from Paris-Dauphine university.

Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the United Arab Emirates. Prior to his appointment, he served since 2017 as the Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a one stop agency of the Government charged with fast tracking economic development through the private sector. Before RDB, he served as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, a position he held for close to seven years since 2010. Ambassador Emmanuel Hategeka also served for 15 years in many positions of responsibility in the private sector. He began his career working for the National Insurance company of Rwanda, later moved to become Sales and Marketing Director for MTN (Rwanda) a global telecoms operator followed by his four-year tenure as CEO of the Private Sector Federation in Rwanda. He has proven knowledge and rich experience in corporate leadership, policy and strategy design, multilateral trade systems, Investment advisory and regional value chains frameworks. He is passionate about youth empowerment, innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development. Ambassador Emmanuel Hategeka holds an MBA in Corporate Strategy and Economic Policy from Maastricht School of Management- Netherlands and a B.COM – Finance Bachelors’ degree from Makerere University- Uganda.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the  United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi since June 2022. Beforehand, he was Head of Controlling and Reporting for The Private Healthcare Network Regina Maria. He also served as Consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers  in Romania. He obtained a degree in Business Administration from Bucharest University and one in Foreign Languages – English and Arabic from Dimitrie Cantemir University.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Poland to the United Arab Emirates. From 2004, he worked in Polish diplomatic missions in Sanaa, Algiers and Riyadh. He is also the author of two books: Yemen – world of tribal values (2008); Arabic and Polish diplomatic and political vocabulary (2016). Jakub Sławek graduated from the Faculty of Arabic Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow in 2002. He also followed a course of Arabic in Damascus and completed post-graduate studies in the field of diplomacy and international relations at Collegium Civitas, Warsaw. Jakub Sławek holds a Ph.D. in the field of humanities (Yemen studies) from the Oriental Institute at the Warsaw University.

Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Arab Emirates. He started his career as a Senior Lecturer at the Nur-Mubarak University of Islamic Culture of Egypt in Almaty and at the Academy of Public Administration attached to the President of Kazakhstan. He then became Third Secretary of the Department of Asia and Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan before he was appointed Attaché, Third Secretary and eventually Second Secretary of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the UAE. In 2011, he was First Secretary of the Department of Asia and Africa then in 2012, Counsellor of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the United Arab Emirates. From 2015 to 2017, he served as Minister-Counsellor of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the UAE and then until 2019 as Consul General of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Dubai. He obtained a Bachelor from the Faculty of Arabic Language and Islamic Studies at the University of Islamic Appeal, Tripoli, Libya in 2002 as well as a Master of Philology at the Kazakh Abylai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages in 2004.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United Arab Emirates since May 2022. In July 2020, Mr. Senik was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Chief Digital Transformation Officer. In 2016 Dmytro Senik was appointed Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Singapore. He also served as Ambassador of Ukraine to Brunei Darussalam and to New Zealand (with residence in Singapore). In 2014 – 2016 Mr. Senik held the position of the Chief of Staff to the Foreign Minister of Ukraine. In 2012-2014 he was Adviser to the Foreign Minister, and later to the Deputy Prime-Minister of Ukraine. In 2011-2012 Dmytro worked as principal assistant to the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine. In 2007-2011 he worked at the political section of the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States. Mr. Senik joined the Foreign Service in 2004. He is a graduate of the Kyiv Institute of Economics and Management. Mr. Senik received Master in Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta. In 2019, Dmytro graduated from the Nanyang Technological University with Master in Public Administration.

Chief of staff to Moldova’s Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu. Olga Rosca joined Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development where she was leading Communications for some of the Bank’s largest markets, including Turkey and Ukraine. During her almost ten years at the EBRD, Olga was based at the London headquarters, the regional hub in Istanbul and most recently in Kyiv. Prior, she had been working in the media unit of the OSCE Mission to Moldova. Her previous experience also includes roles at the EU Delegation to Moldova and the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. She holds a master’s degree in Public Communication from the Moldova State University.

Senior Executive of the International Organizations Unit of the Ministry of Finance of the United Arab Emirates. She is responsible for following up the implementation of joint activities with international organizations of which the Ministry of Finance is a member at.

Founder and CEO of CYSEC. Before launching CYSEC, Patrick Trinkler played an active part in the world’s first exit in quantum technologies. Patrick has specialized in creating business value from security for governments, banks, the industrial sector and telco, using his deep experience in security, especially in technologies relating to quantum computing and cryptography. Patrick earned an undergraduate degree in engineering at the University of Applied Sciences and a Master in Project Management at the Geneva School of Business Administration.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Charge of East African Community of Rwanda since 1^st May 2020.  From 2003 until 2005, he served as the Minister of Commerce, Industry, Investment Promotion, Tourism and Cooperatives. He was appointed the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Ministry from 2005 until 2006. In 2006, he was appointed Minister of Public Service and Labor until 2008, when he was named as Senior Economic Advisor to the President of the Republic of Rwanda. Professor Nshuti Manasseh, was also the Chairman of Board of Promoters assigned to set up Umutara Polytechnic (University) in Eastern Province, Nyagatare District. He has over 23 years of University lecturing and administrative experience gained from high standards universities. He is a Professor of Finance, holding a PhD in Finance from Aberdeen University, UK, a Masters of Business Administration in Accounting, Aberdeen University, UK, and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) from Makerere University.

Head of Middle East, Turkey and Central Asia at Bpifrance, the French Public Investment Bank. Prior to this, she headed the Middle East department of MEDEF International, the French business confederation, between 2018 and 2020 and was COO of a boutique advisory firm helping French companies address the Iranian market between 2016 and 2018. She held several positions in European Union agencies (Zimbabwe, Vienna) and the Project Finance team of the legal firm Clifford Chance in Paris. Catherine holds a Master’s degree in Business Law from Sciences Po and a Master’s degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics (LSE). She is member of the German Marshall Fund of the United States since 2018.

Minister of the State for International Cooperation of the UAE since 2016. Her Excellency Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy was appointed to the UAE Cabinet as Minister of State in February 2008. Prior to this, Reem led the UAE’s bid to host the World Expo 2020 in Dubai. She served as Managing Director of the Expo 2020 Dubai mega-event, following which she was appointed CEO of Expo City Dubai Authority. She also manages the Vice President’s Office for Political Affairs. She continues to serve as the Chairperson for Dubai Cares. She was also the former chairperson of the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority and has been appointed as Chairperson of Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi.

Official Spokesperson for the health sector in the UAE, Manager of Communicable Diseases Department of the Abu Dhabi Center of Public Health and Adjunct Associate Professor at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at the UAE University. Dr. Farida Al Hosani contributed in the field of public health, as she participated in scientific and international research in health and infectious diseases and developed strategic plans for infectious diseases preparedness and dealing with pandemics. She is an expert of the World Health Organization in the field of emerging diseases.

Chairman of Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Al Mazrui served as Managing Director of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Tunisia and the Emirates. In 1984, he decided to end his journey with government work and devoted himself to starting his own business. Today, Al Mazrui Group includes about 30 companies and is spread in many sectors, including oil and gas, retail, education, health care, foodstuffs and industry. He is also the Chairman of the BOD of Emirates Insurance Company, which he established during the 1980s.