Category: Invited guests

Secretary of State for investment, Ministry of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy, Kingdom of Morocco. He began his career as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers Paris, between 2003 and 2006. He subsequently, held the position of Director Special Advisor at Mena Media Consulting-Rabat between 2008 and 2016. He became Manager of Europa Conseil-Casablanca in July 2016. He has been President since January 2017 of clubgibraltar.org, a think tank dedicated to promoting the anchoring of the Maghreb in the European project. He also held the position of Secretary General of Sciences Po Alumni Morocco between 2012 and 2016. He holds a Master’s degree in journalism from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, an Executive Master’s from the National School of Administration, Post Graduate Course of European studies. He is also a graduate of the ESC Nantes-Atlantique business school (Audencia).

Member of the National Control Commission for the Protection of Personal Data. Lawyer by profession, he has served successively as advisor to the Secretary of State to the Prime Minister in charge of the Post and Information Technologies, and adviser to the Minister of Justice, in charge of international cooperation. As such, he participates in several international negotiations with the USA and the EU. Also, he is the author of specialized studies and legal articles, published in various law journals.

Historian and political scientist. She is a research professor of the University Mohamed V Institute of African Studies (IAS) where she served as director from 2003 to 2008. She is an active member of the pan-African Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Dakar, which she served as vice-president then president from 2009 to 2015. She has been visiting scholar at a number of African, European and US universities and authored numerous books and studies on themes of Islamic reform in North and West Africa, African women in the transmission of Islamic learning, trans-Saharan slavery and Africa in the world. She graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) in Paris and the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Director General of the Office of Vocational Training and Employment Promotion (OFPPT). She has been a member of OCP’s Industrial Development Department before being promoted to the head of the public company in 2014. In 2018, she was appointed by the King Mohammed VI as Secretary General of the OFPPT. She was officially installed at the head of the Office in August 2018. She graduated from the Mohammadia School of Engineers (EMI) in Rabat.

CEO of Global Nexus, a private equity fund dedicated to clean energy infrastructure in Morocco. Prior to that, she was the Head of Investment Strategy of Morocco’s Public Pension Fund, and a Director General of the Casablanca Stock Exchange. She went back to Morocco in 2004 after eight years at the World Bank in Washington to become the Economic Advisor to Morocco’s Prime Minister. She received her Ph.D. in Environment Engineering from Harvard, an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a Diploma of Engineering from Ecole Centrale Paris.

Secretary-General of the Rabita Muhammadia of ‘Ulamas. He heads committees within the US-Morocco Strategic Dialogue and Morocco’s Higher Council of Education, and is a member of Morocco’s National Human Rights Council and Economic, Social and Environmental Council. He served as the Director of Islamic Affairs in the Moroccan Ministry of Islamic Affairs.  He is a Distinguished Professor of Comparative History of Religions and Islamic Thought at Qadi Ayyad University, from which he received his PhD in Islamic studies. He taught at the University of Chicago and DePaul University, and authored many books and papers on Islamic thought and jurisprudence.

Regional manager for West and North Africa for EnergyNet. She currently works with governments across West and North Africa promoting investment into the energy, electricity, and infrastructure sectors with a clear focus on energy access and economic development in Africa through project implementation, climate finance, technology transfer, and capacity building. With an emphasis on North and West Africa development and regional cooperation, she has led high level investor’s summits promoting energy access around the world, most recently in Marrakech where she led the EnergyNet’s Africa Renewable Energy Forum (ARF), the officially labelled side event of COP22. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from the University of Rome, two master’s degrees, one in the history of Africa and one in political studies from the EHESS in Paris.

Marketing manager at Bridge Africa, a tech start-up that promotes African-generated content by enabling people to create professional websites for their business. Prior to this, she served as a business development assistant at FHI360 in Washington, DC. She also served as EducationUSA country coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon. She has been named a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and is founding curator of the Global Shaper’s Yaounde Hub. She is also a founding partner of New Frame Limited, a mobile app development startup that seeks to help businesses in Cameroon improve their brands. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Williams College.

Austrian Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs since December 2017. Since 1998 she has worked as an independent lecturer in the areas of international law, Middle Eastern history and the energy market at various universities. She is co-founder and vice president of Whistleblowing Austria as well as vice president of the Society for Politico-Strategic Studies, STRATEG. She plays an active role in numerous non-profit organisations in Austria and Lebanon. She speaks various foreign languages: Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Italian, Hungarian and Spanish.

Economist and career diplomat. After having worked at the Banque Commerciale du Maroc in Milan, then at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, he was Director of Multilateral Cooperation and Director of European Affairs within the Moroccan diplomacy. In 2003, he was appointed by His Majesty the King of Morocco Ambassador to the EU, then to France. Fathallah Sijilmassi was appointed Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean. Fathallah Sijilmassi has received several decorations including Officer of the Legion of Honor. He holds a doctorate in International Economics from the University of Grenoble and is a graduate of Sciences Po Grenoble (France).

Prof. Georgy Toloraya holds the position of Executive Director of Russian National Committee on BRICS Research, a legal entity created under the auspices of Russian government for Track 2 activities. He is also Director of Program analysis at “Russkiy Mir” Presidential Foundation, dealing with programs in Asia and Africa. Prof. Toloraya is concurrently the Director of Asian Strategy Center at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is a professional diplomat (rank of Minister) with decades-long experience in Asian affairs, having served two postings in North Korea (1977-80 and 1984-87), then in South Korea as a Deputy chief of the Russian Embassy (1993-98) and later as the senior Russian Foreign Ministry official (Deputy director-general) in charge of the Korean Peninsula (1998-2003). He later worked as the Consul General of Russia in Sydney, Australia (2003-2007). Prior to that, he worked for trade promotion agencies related to Asia.

Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2010-2012). He was appointed as Prime Minister and Chair of the ruling party EPRDF in September 2012. He also served as the Chairperson of the African Union from 2013 to 2014. Former Dean of the Water Technology Institute. He served in the Government in different positions including as the President  of the SNNPRS (Southern Nations and Nationalities and People’s Regional State) for five years; Chairman of SEPDM; Member of the House of People’s Representatives; Social Affairs and Civic Societies Mobilization & Participation Special Advisor to the PM; and Government Chief Whip, with a Ministerial portfolio.

Head of Marketing, ProGlove, Germany. He worked as a freelancer for international broadcast companies covering stories in Bolivia, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea among other countries. After founding a textile brand in Bolivia, he executed marketing and innovation consultancy projects for German industry leaders. With ProGlove he combines his industry and brand experience to establish the most successful industrial wearable brand worldwide. He studied applied media science in Ilmenau, Germany & entrepreneurship in Brazil.

Professor in Agribusiness Policy. President Director of BULOG (2023-2024), the only Indonesia SOE for export and import as well as distributing major staple food commodities in Indonesia, and President Commissioner of RNI-IDFood (2021-2023), the biggest SOE food holding company in Indonesia. Founder and Chairman of the Inclusive and Sustainable Agribusiness Initiatives. Chairs IPB University SDGs Network (2019-2021). Chair of the Association of Agribusiness Indonesia (2019-2023). He has held various strategic positions in the Indonesian government for nearly two decades, including Deputy Coordinating Minister for Economic Affair (2005-2010), Vice Minister of Agriculture between 2009 and 2011, and Vice Minister of Trade from 2011 to 2014. He also served as CEO of Indonesia Estate Crop Fund, Ministry of Finance, Republic of Indonesia between 2015 and 2017. Chairman of Indonesian Society of Agricultural Economics from 2011 to 2017, he also chaired the Board of Yayasan Danamon Peduli (Danamon Peduli Foundation) from 2015 to 2019. He was Senior Expert Panel of Indonesia’s Chamber of Commerce between 2018 and 2020. He has been a Board member of Yayasan Bina Swadaya (Self-Reliance Development Foundation) since 1999 and Executive Chair since 2018, as well as Board member of the Andgreen Fund, Netherland (2017-2023). Dr. Krisnamurthi got his Ph.D. in Agriculture Economics from the distinguished Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia in 1998.

Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation. Responsible for developing State policy in the sphere of public debt, management of State financial assets, cooperation with the IMF, Multilateral Development Banks, G20. Previously he held the following positions: Deputy Chairman of the Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the USSR, Director of Division in the Ministry of Finance. He also worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Second secretary of the USSR Permanent Mission to the UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva. He graduated from MGIMO University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, specializing in international economic relations.

President of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra Regional Council, Morocco. He is also President of the United Regions Organization (ORU Fogar). Before this, he was Treasurer of the Association of Moroccan Regions (ARM). He was also President of the working group “Economic Development” of the International Association of Francophone Regions (AIRF). He is a graduate of both the Moroccan National School of Architecture and of ISCAE, Rabat, Morocco.

President, CGEM. He was Director and CEO of the Spanish company TAVEX. He served as Chairman of the Moroccan Association of Textile and Apparel Industries for two years and as Chairman of the Textile and Leather Federation within the CGEM. In 2004, he was appointed Minister of Industry, Trade, and Restructuring of the Economy. He served as Minister of  Economy and Finance and as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. He is also co-manager of CTC Maroc, Senior Advisor to the AfBD, Senior Advisor to the Fond Africa 50.

Director for the Maghreb, the Maghreb Union and the African Union Affairs. Deputy Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations headquarters in New York. He held the same position in Geneva in 2007. In 2005, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Morocco to the UN in New York. In 2000, he joined the National Steering Committee for Nuclear Affairs. He was appointed Deputy Governor of the Kingdom of Morocco to the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  

Chairman Economic Diplomacy Commission, South Africa and South/South Africa, CGEM. After studying finance, Laaziz Kadiri began her career in entrepreneurship and consulting in Morocco, the Middle East and Africa. He then founded LK invest and collaborated with many African states in the implementation of structuring projects. He chairs the Economic Diplomacy Commission, South Africa and South-South Africa within the CGEM.  

Ambassador of Hungary to the Kingdom of Morocco since 2015. Prior to this, he was Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of Hungary in Rabat after serving as Deputy Head of Mission. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, he first served as Protocol Officer and then as Senior counsellor for Australia and New-Zealand at the Department for Asia and Pacific Region. Mr. Tromler – prior to his diplomatic carrier – had an international private sector background experience and also had been a professional sportsman. He graduated with an Executive MBA from Corvinus University Budapest and owns a Master Professional of Management, International Economics, Sport Economics from the Université Aix-Marseille II.

Alexandre Medvedowsky is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, holder of a DEA (Diploma of Advanced Studies) in Macroeconomics (Paris 1) and a former student of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (Denis Diderot Class, 1984-1986). From 1998 to 2001 he was an associate professor at the University of Aix-Marseille III, and he taught at the IEP in Paris until 2006. He was a councillor of the Bouches-du-Rhône from 1998 to March 2015. He was named a Councillor of State in July 2001 and joined ESL & Network Holding that same year, serving on the Board of Directors. In 2005, he was named President of ESL & Network France and was named Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2013. One year later, he was elected president of SYNFIE, the French syndicate for economic intelligence.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Serbia to the Kingdom of Morocco since August 2014. Prior to this, she was Ambassador in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Assistant Minister for Multilateral Affairs, Deputy Assistant Minister for Multilateral Affairs, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Serbia to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), President of the Working Group for the cooperation with OIF. She was a professor at the Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Head of the Serbian delegation and Permanent Representative to UNESCO-WHC and Special Envoy to IHRA.

Manager of the Department in charge of State Owned Enterprises and Privatization at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He is a member of the National Commission of Corporate Governance. He represents the State as a shareholder in several Public State Owned Enterprises Boards and Boards’ committees. He is Chairman of the Inter Ministerial Committee of the Public-Private Partnership and Chairman of the Permanent Committee of the National Accounting Council. He is a lecturer at high institutes such as International University of Rabat, Moroccan Institute of Board members, and High Institute of Administration. He is a graduate in Business Management from the University of Casablanca. He holds the second certificate in Economics from the University of Rabat and a Diploma of the 3rd cycle of the National School of Public Administration of Rabat.

Wali, Director general of local governments at the Ministry of Interior. Prior to this, he was Wali of the Greater Casablanca region, of the Casablanca-Settat region and Secretary-General to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. After serving as Director of compensation and pensions, Director of Modernisation, Resources and Information system at the General Treasury of the Kingdom, and Chargé de mission at the Office of the Minister of Finance and Foreign Investments, he was appointed governor in the Al-Fida-Mers-Sultan district prefecture, then governor in the prefecture of the Casablanca-Anfa district in 2006. He is also President of the Alumni association of the Ecole Polytechnique (X-Maroc). He also served as President of the Association marocaine de prospective.