Category: Invited guests

Member emeritus of the French Conseil d’État and senior lecturer at Sciences-Po Paris, Jean-Louis Gergorin is the owner of JLG Strategy, an aerospace and defense consultancy. He has held numerous executive positions such as Executive Vice President and member of the Executive Committee of Airbus, as well as Director of Policy Planning of the French Foreign Ministry. He is a former Trustee and member of the Council of the IISS. Co-founder and Steering Committee member of the French American Cybersecurity Conference, he is a co-author with Léo Isaac-Dognin of Cyber. La guerre permanente (2018). He graduated from the École polytechnique and École nationale d’administration, and is an alumnus of the Stanford Executive Program.

Head of the regional economic service for Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in France and economic advisor for the Regional Prefect, Mr. Kotti’s primary focus lies in supporting companies’ economic development and carbon transition. Prior to this, he was a consultant for the World Bank on financial inclusion and banking sector stability matters in the Middle East. He also worked for Neoen in Australia, an independent renewable energy developer. Mr. Kotti holds a Ph.D. in economics from the École polytechnique. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and the Corps des mines program in France.

CNN’s senior European correspondent in Paris since 1996. Previously he was an ABC Paris correspondent from 1990 to 1996 and the NBC Paris and Rome correspondents from 1978 to 1990. In his long tenure in France he has covered every Presidential campaign since 1981, and traveled widely throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa on major news stories. He covered Pope John Paul II for more than 25 years, has reported on famines in Sudan, the Iranian and Philippines Revolutions, the Gulf War, civil wars in Lebanon and Somalia, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2009, Bittermann was named a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. His many journalistic honors include television Emmys and a Royal Television Society award for team coverage of the Paris terrorist attacks. He is on the juries for the Overseas Press Club and Emmy  television news awards. He is a member of the board of governors of the American Hospital of Paris and is the co-president and co-founder of the European-American Press Club. Since 1998, Bittermann has taught communications at the American University of Paris where he is now a professor emeritus.

Director of UNESCO Cluster Office in Rabat and UNESCO Representative for the Maghreb depuis 2018, Golda El-Khoury joined UNESCO in 2009 as Chief of Section for Youth, Sport and Physical Education. In 2012, she was appointed Chief of section of social inclusion. From 2002 to 2008, she was UNICEF’s First Regional Advisor for Youth in the Middle East and North Africa region.  Prior to that, she was the Country Director for Save the Children in Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Indonesia. Ms El-Khoury holds a BA in philosophy from the Lebanese University as well as a Master’s degree in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

Chiyuki Aoi, Ph.D, is Professor of International Security at the Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo. She is also Visiting Professor at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.  She recently served as a member of the Shinzo Abe administration Council on Security and Defense Capabilities that advised the revision of National Defence Program Guidelines published in December 2019.  Her main research interest is the transformation of warfare, especially with regard to technology and information/strategic communications, as well as Japanese national defence and strategy. She was educated at Sophia University (BA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS), and Columbia University (PhD).

Prosecutor-General of the Court of Appeal of Rennes, France. He joined the UN International Drug Control Program in Vienna in early 1991 as Senior Legal Adviser, and later became Program Manager of the UN Global Program against Money Laundering. He joined the Legal Department of the IMF to serve as Assistant General Counsel and Head of the Financial Integrity Group that was created following the September 11 attacks. Former Chairman of the National Conference of Prosecutors-General, he is also the President of the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, Italy. He was awarded the distinction of Officer of the Legion of Honor.

Associate investor within the industrial ventures fund of Bpifrance, the French public investment bank. Prior to this, Jean worked in the merger & acquisition team of BNP Paribas based in Singapore and in the life sciences division of software editor Dassault Systèmes in France. A French civil servant, Jean graduated from École Normale Supérieure in Mathematics and is a Corps des Mines engineer.

Laurent Marcadier worked between 1997 and 2004 as a judicial magistrate, in the prosecutor’s office in Créteil, France in the organized crime department (drugs, weapons, human trafficking and counterfeit). He then held the position of Secretary General of the Paris Regional Court, followed by the Paris Court of Appeal. Appointed Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State for Justice in 2009, he then joined the staff of the Minister of the Interior in 2011. In 2013, he joined the LVMH Group as Director of Asset and People Protection. He is in charge of protecting the Intellectual property rights of 28 Houses of the Group on physical markets, as on Internet and Social Media.

Mercy Ships Ambassador for Africa, Dr Pierre M’Pelé became a physician in 1982. He is specialized in epidemiology, public health, infectious diseases and tropical medicine. Between 2007 and 2016, Dr M’Pelé has been WHO Representative in several African countries. Previously, he was President of the Society for Aids in Africa (1995-2005), Director of the National AIDS Control Program in Congo (1987-1998)and Director of the National Laboratory of Public Health. Dr M’Pelé published in February 2019 his first autobiography: An African Doctor’s Journey: From The Beginning To The Near-End Of The AIDS Epidemic In Africa (published by Maia France). He graduated from the University of Paris.

Lawyer at the Paris Bar and currently practicing at the Bar of Benin, President of the African Association of International Law. He is also a member of the Curatorium of the African Academy for Regional Cooperation and a member of the honorary committee of the Fondation René Cassin (France). Former Chairman of the Bar, Robert DOSSOU was a member of Parliament, Minister of Planning and then Minister for Foreign Affairs. Former President of the Constitutional Court of Bénin, expert consultant, he has carried out and still carries out various missions for various international organizations: UN, AU, ECOWAS, OIF… etc. He is an arbitrator of international trade. President of the National Preparatory Committee of the National Conference of Benin, he is the author of several publications on democracy, human rights and the democratic transition. A former professor at the University of Paris I and then at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC BENIN), and honorary dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the UAC, he is also associate member of the French Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, Grand Officer of the National Order of Benin and Commander of the Academic Palms (France).

Starting September 2017, Mr. Cosmin Ghita is the CEO of Nuclearelectrica (SNN), the only nuclear energy producer in Romania, which covers approximately 20% of the national energy consumption needs. Starting 2019 he is the only Romanian member of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) Main Governing Board. Mr. Ghita’s role as Nuclearelectrica’s CEO is to implement strategic projects that support Romania’s energy security, its transition process and its decarbonization targets. Through its investment projects, Nuclearelectrica will double its capacity after 2031 and the contribution in Romania’s total CO2-free energy production will increase to 66% by 2030.

CEO & Chairman of the Board, Grup Servicii Petroliere, top offshore construction and drilling holding in the Black Sea. Mr. Comanescu established Grup Servicii Petroliere in 2004 and has served as President of the Board ever since. Under this leadership, the company has developed into a complex holding, which provides an integrated system of services, covering all major aspects of a project, from engineering, through planning, procurement, fabrication, installation and decommissioning. GSP owns and operates the biggest roster of specialized assets in the region, from AHTS and PSV vessels, to offshore floating cranes, offshore construction barges, ROVs and offshore drilling rigs, suited for both shallow and deep water. GSP’s footprint became global. GSP Holding successfully completed various offshore construction and drilling EPCI projects throughout the world, worth more than 4 billion dollars. Presently, GSP is developing major EPCI projects in the Black Sea, and is developing its capabilities to engage in deep water drilling, onshore drilling, and onshore construction.

Mr. Comanescu has a degree in Naval Electromechanical Engineering from the “Mircea cel Bătrân” Naval Academy, Constanta, Romania. Shortly after graduating, in 1992, Mr. Comănescu set out to become one of the most successful business men in the industrial sector. Throughout his career he received various awards and acknowledgements, maintaining a constant presence in the Wealthiest Romanians list. 

Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) from 12 September 2014 to 7 April 2021. He has extensive experience after a long and distinguished career in both international and governmental forums. Before joining UNOWAS, Mr. Chambas was the African Union-United Nations Joint Special Representative for Darfur and Head of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur. A former Member of Parliament of Ghana, Mr. Chambas served as Deputy Foreign Secretary of Ghana in 1987 and Deputy Minister for Education in charge of Tertiary Education from 1997 to 2000.

Professor of International Political Economy and Dean at the School of International Communication, Kansai University of International Studies since April 2019. Prior to that, he taught at Keio University (2005-2019). He also served as Deputy-Director General of the Economic Affairs Bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (2002-2004) and then Special Assistant to the Japanese Foreign Minister in 2004. He had a major role in different Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) such as the Japan-Mexico EPA, Japan-EU EPA and the Japan-India EPA. Prof. Watanabe currently serves on the Panel on Brexit issues organized by the KEIDANREN (The Japanese Federation of Economic Organizations).

Founding Vice-Chair and Founding President of the Global Relations Forum. He serves as the Venture Partner at the UK-based D4 Ventures, focusing on e-commerce, fintech and deep learning/AI investments. He advises tech companies on complex issues related to their NASDAQ listings. Previously, he was the Founding Managing Director of Istanbul Technical University’s (ITU) ARI Science Park. During his tenure, he was Senior Advisor to the President, Coordinator of the law, technology, and policy graduate program, and Strategic Advisor at the university’s Center for Satellite Communications. He has served as a member of the academic staff at ITU and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Earlier in his career, he worked as a specialist in structured finance in London and Istanbul. He received a BS in electrical engineering and economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MSc in finance from LSE, and a JD from Columbia University. Mr. Karakullukçu recently co-authored a book on Turkish foreign policy, Değerler, Çıkarlar ve Dönüşüm (Values, Interests and Transformation), with former Turkish Undersecretaries of Foreign Affairs and Intelligence. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association.

President of Center for International Public Policy Studies (CIPPS) and freelance economic critic specializing in a variety of fields, including international and Japanese economics, politics, and industry. He was previously President of the 21st Century Public Policy Institute. He graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law and finished all coursework for a Ph.D. at the Economic Research Division. His publications include The Great Stagnation of China (2016) and Japan’s Growth Strategy (2013, co-written with CIPPS). 

Eminent Ambassador of Mexico and President of Rozental & Asociados. Andrés Rozental also holds non-executive board positions in several important multinational companies in Europe and Mexico. He was a career diplomat for more than 35 years, having served his country as Mexico’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom (1995-1997), as Deputy Foreign Minister (1988-1994) and as Ambassador to Sweden (1983-1988). He was Mexico’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva (1982-1983), and has held senior responsibilities within the Mexican Foreign Ministry and abroad. Andrés founded the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations and since 1994, has the lifetime Rank of Eminent Ambassador.

President of the Jacques Delors Institute. Former Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po in Paris. He was the Prime Minister of Italy from April 2013 to February 2014 before becoming Secretary General of the Italian Democratic Party (PD). He previously served as Minister for EU Affairs (1998-1999), as Minister for Industry, Commerce and Crafts and Foreign Trade (2000-2001), among others, and as Undersecretary of State to the Prime Minister Romano Prodi (2006-2008). He was member of the Italian Parliament (2001-2015), excluding between 2004 and 2006 when he was member of the European Parliament. He also served as Deputy Secretary of the Democratic Party (2009-2013). He graduated in International Law at the University of Pisa (his hometown) and obtained a Ph.D. in European Union Law at the School for Advanced Studies Sant’Anna of Pisa.

Director of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) and Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business since October 2021. After working as an Associate Consultant with McKinsey & Co, Vienna from 2004 to 2005, he held various teaching positions from 2005 to 2009 at the University of Tübingen and at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. From 2010 to 2019, he led the ifo Center for International Economics at the University of Munich. From 2019 to September 2021 he was President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. His research and advisory activities focus on questions of economic global governance, European economic integration, and German economic policy. He has published a large number of papers in international scientific journals, in policy briefs, and newspapers. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Publisher and Editor-in-chief at Elaph. He started his career in journalism as junior sports correspondent for a Saudi newspaper. He quickly established a name for himself and became London correspondent for Al-Jazeera newspaper, Riyadh. He was also Editor in Chief of Al Majalla, London, and Asharq Al Awsat newspaper, London (the leading international Arabic language newspaper).  He set up Elaph Publishing Limited in the UK and its associated company in Saudi to publish www.elaph.com on the Internet, which quickly became the leading Arabic news portal. In 2021, Elaph signed an agreement with the Financial Times to produce the FT’s luxury magazine, How To Spend It, in Arabic, under licence. Othman Al-Omeir has interviewed exclusively many world leaders, and was awarded the New Media for the Future Prize by Anna Lindh Foundation in December 2009. 

Founding Partner of the Quattro Group and Partner of eONE Global Investments LLP (an advisory and investment outfit in Energy/Africa). His work experience started in 1995 with the World Bank Group in Washington DC where his last held position was Investment Officer in the IFC’s Oil and Gas Department. He joined The AES Corporation in 2001, the World’s largest independent power producer, working on business development and restructuring in the EMEA region. In 2006, he was appointed as the CEO of the Office National de l’Electricité. He is an electrical engineer by training, graduated from Ecole Centrale de Nantes and holds a post-Masters’ degree in economics from the French Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique.

World Bank’s Country Director for the Maghreb and Malta, Middle East and North Africa. She joined the World Bank in 1994 and has held a variety of positions focused on the restructuring of public enterprises, support to private sector development, regional integration, and management of the oil sector. Prior to her current position, she spent four years as Country Director for Nigeria, and previous to that held a number of other positions. She graduated of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Nantes and Bowling Green University (Ohio, USA). She has also completed several management programs at Harvard University in the US. She worked for many international firms and was advisor to several governments before joining the World Bank.

Larbi Belabi was appointed by H.M. the King President and CEO of SOMACA in 2001. In 2008, he was appointed Advisor to the President of the EUROMED Africa region of the group. He participated as a member of the strategic committee and project implementation of Renault Tanger. He was President of the Moroccan Automobile Industry and Trade Association (AMICA) for 8 years. He is currently Chairman of the Academic Committee of Al Akhawayn Ifrane University, a member of the Board of Directors of École Centrale Paris in Casablanca and Vice President of the Moroccan Association of Economic Intelligence. He is a member of the EESC’s Committee on Economic Affairs and Strategic Projects. He is a member of two strategic think tanks in North America and Europe.

President of Al Akhawayn University. He had previously served at Al Akhawayn as Vice President for Academic Affairs, Interim Dean of the School of Business Administration, and Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. He is General Secretary of the Moroccan British Society, and former Secretary of the EuroMed Permanent University Forum. He holds a Ph.D in Linguistics and Education from the University of Texas at Austin, a Masters in Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching from the University of Wales, and a Bachelor of Arts from Mohamed V University.

General Manager of the National Highway Company of Morocco. He began his career as a Project Manager Engineer, then held several management positions at UNILEVER in Casablanca, London, Singapore, before being appointed Chief Financial Officer of Unilever Egypt. He has also held the position of General Manager of “Savola Morocco”.  In 2012, he returned to Morocco to assume the position of Chief of Staff of the Minister of Equipment, Transport and Logistics before being appointed in January 2014 General Manager of the National Highway Company of Morocco. He is an engineer from the Ecole Centrale de Paris and also graduated from Imperial College Business School in London where he prepared an MBA in Finance and Strategy.