Category: Invited guests

Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Kingdom of Morocco since 2015. He was among others Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (2011-2014) and to Italy (2008-2011). He was also seconded to the Supreme Court of Korea (2006-2008). He held different positions in Canada, Sweden and Indonesia. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) in 1981. He graduated from Korea University, Seoul, from the University of Illinois and from the University of Michigan.

Leila Mokaddem joined the African Development Bank in 2002 as Head of the Financial Institutions Division. The current Country Director for Morocco has lead the implementation of the African Guarantee Fund and the Trade Finance Initiative before becoming resident representative to the regional office in Senegal. Prior to ADB, she worked at the Tunisian Ministry of Economy and the IMF. She was also counselor of the Minister of Finance in Haiti before being named counselor of the Presidential Commission in charge of drafting the new Investment Code. Graduate from the Institute of High Trade Studies in Tunis, she also has a Master’s degree in International Trade.

Managing Director, Rothschild & Co. She started her career at Lazard Frères in 1989. She joined Rothschild in 1999 where she started the emerging markets division. Managing director since 2006, she is also a member of the board of Lucien Barrière Group, Rothschild & Co and Electrica S.A. She has also been President of CARE France from 2007 to 2018 and sits currently on the Supervisory Board of CARE International. She holds a PhD in international economics from the Institut d’Etudes politiques de Paris and a DEA in Monnaie Banque  Finance from Université de Paris  II Assas.

Energy and Sustainability Industry Leader of Deloitte Central Europe. He has almost 20 years of experience in the energy sector, holding positions both in the public and private sectors. In 2014, he was the Romanian minister for energy. Between 2006-2008 he was the Energy Attaché of Romania to the European Union. From 2008 to 2014 he held the position of director for Public and Regulatory Affairs of Petrom. He has been the Chairman of the Administrative Board of the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). He graduated from Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Brussels, Belgium.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of CDG Développement Group since 2014. He joined CDG Développement in 2007. He began his professional career in 1989 as Technical Director at Pechiney in Morocco. In 1996, he became General Manager of SOMACOPA. From 1999 to 2002, he held the position of General Manager of the Compagnie Industrielle des Fibres in Tangiers. He was appointed Deputy Director of the Tanger Med Special Agency (TMSA) and member of the Management Board in 2002. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées (ENSTA) in Paris. He obtained a DEA in Fluid Mechanics from Paris VI University.

General Director of Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG) since 2015. He began his career in 1982 at Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP) where he held several executive positions. In 2004, he was named Director General of the Customs and Indirect Taxes Administration. In parallel, he was elected in 2007 Vice-President of the World Customs Organization (WCO), President of the Organization for the MENA region, and in 2008 he was also elected Chairman of the Audit Committee of the WCO. In 2010, he was General Director of the Directorate General of Taxes. He graduated from the Mohammedia Engineering School (EMI), Morocco.

Professor of Crisis Management, and Security Studies and Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South. His area of expertise covers Afro-Asian affairs, strategic and security studies, terrorism, extremism and deradicalization. He got his Ph.D. in Regional & International Affairs from the University of Tokyo and a Doctorate from the University of Mohammed V on the psychological dynamisms of suicide bombers. He is the Executive Director of the Moroccan Observatory on Extremism and Violence, Director of the African Center for Asian Studies, Rabat, Visiting Professor at the University Mohammed V and president of the Moroccan Association for Asian Studies.

Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the President of Rwanda. He is also the representative of Rwanda to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). He has just completed a book on Rwanda’s post-genocide reconstruction released in October 2017 in French, untitled “Rwanda Tomorrow: A long Walk to Transformation” (Editions Karthala).

President of AMMC, Morocco’s Capital Market Authority, since 2016. She was elected Vice-Chair of the Africa and Middle East Committee (AMERC) within the International Organization of Financial Market Regulators (IOSCO). She was chairperson and CEO of Sogelease (Société Générale Morocco group). She started her career in Spain at the international division of Banco Atlantico as responsible for international risks and restructured debt portfolio (1985-1988). In 1999, she was elected President of the Association of stockbrokers in Morocco during two mandates. She was nominated global leader for tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2001. She also co-founded AFEM, the association of women business leaders in Morocco, in 2000. She created le “Club des femmes administrateurs au Maroc” in 2012, to promote women in corporate boards. She graduated from ESSEC Paris.

Managing Director of the Casablanca Stock Exchange and member of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE). In 2011, he was appointed member of the Global Board of Advisors of the Operation Hope Foundation and Chairman of the executive committee of the Association of African French-speaking Exchanges (ABFA). Before joining Casablanca Stock Exchange in 2009, he was CEO of Atlas Capital Group, which he set up in 1999. In 1990, he joined the ONA Group as advisor to the Chairman and then became chief financial officer in 1994. He graduated from New York University, the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and Paris IX Dauphine University.

Head of the financial stability unit at the Research Department of Bank Al-Maghrib (Central Bank of Morocco). He published several articles in academic journals (International Economics, Revue Economique, Revue d’Economie Politique) and recently a study for the European Parliament. He obtained his PhD from Paris 1 Sorbonne University and visited many international institutions (Bank of England and Bank of International Settlements).

Professor of History and Political Anthropology, Institute of African Studies, Mohammed V University (UM5) and Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South. Professor at Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah University (Fez) after earning his first doctorate in African Studies from UM5 focusing on West Sub-Saharan Africa. He also earned a Doctorate of State in African Studies, where he focused on Contemporary West Africa. He is Director of Research Group: African Politics, doctoral supervisor at UM5, Professor of African History in EGE School of Governance and Economy of Rabat, Polytechnic Mohammed VI University and Director of Africa and Middle East Centre Studies AMES Centre.

President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of Morocco since 2013. He is also the President of the Scientific Committee of Cop22. He taught at the University of Rabat and the National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics, then he joined the Ministry of Finance in 1996 where he held a variety of positions, including that of Deputy Director of the Department of Studies and Financial Forecasts. In 2007, he was appointed Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister for Economic and General Affairs (2007-2012) then Minister of Economy and Finance (2012-2013). He holds a PhD in econometrics from the University of Aix-Marseille (France).

CEO of the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency. Graduate from the Institut National Polytechnique and University of Pennsylvania, he was President of the Energy, Climate and Green Economy Commission at the General Confederation of the Moroccan Companies. He was advisor to OCP President of  and has worked within the Cabinet of the Minister of Energy and Mines and counseled organizations such as the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental protection, BMCE Bank, World Bank and UNDP. He was also Head of the Public Private Partnerships at COP 22 committee. He was also President of the Mediterranean Association of National Agencies for Energy Management.

Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of OCP Group (Morocco) since 2010. He works on a broad range of international issues for OCP, including African agricultural development and global food security. From 1996 to 2008, while at the World Bank, he played an important role in the international donor community’s efforts to understand and strengthen the contribution of information and communication technologies to economic development and poverty reduction. He also served as Executive Director of the Civic Education Project (CEP) (1993-1996). A political scientist by training, he has held senior positions in NGOs and research organizations and has taught at several U.S. universities.

Ambassador of France to the Kingdom of Morocco since 2015. He was Director for North Africa and the Middle East at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (2012-2015). He was among others Ambassador of France to Vietnam (2010-2012), to Irak (2006-2009) and to Syria (2002-2006). He was advisor to the French Presidency (1998-2002) during President Jacques Chirac’s term.

CEO of Moroccan Airports Authority (ONDA) since 2014. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President of Royal Air Maroc including different executive positions within the company mainly in sales development, maintenance and services (2009-2014). He was also Chief Executive Officer of Atlas Blue, a low cost subsidiary of Royal Air Maroc (2004-2009) and Managing Director of Air Senegal International, a subsidiary of Royal Air Maroc based in Dakar (2000-2004). He graduated from the High Institute of Aerospace Engineering (ENSICA, Toulouse) and from the Mohammedia Engineering School (EMI-Rabat).

Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Previously, Ana Brnabić was Prime Minister for almost eight years and as Minister of Public Administration and Autonomous Administration. She was Director of Continental Wind Serbia (CWS). She has more than ten years of experience in working with international organizations, foreign investors, local self-governments and the public sector in Serbia. She graduated in marketing from Hull University, UK.

President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises, which is the sole representative of the Moroccan private sector, from May 2012 to May 2018. She was the first woman in the MENA region to have been elected and reelected by her peers. She is one of the most influent entrepreneurs in Africa. She is the CEO of LES EAUX MINÉRALES D’OULMES and remains at the board of her family group, HOLMARCOM, one of the largest groups in Morocco and Africa, operating in multiple sectors. She is a member of several worldwide prestigious boards including Bank Al Maghrib (Morocco’s central bank), Renault Worldwide, Suez Worldwide, Care International Maroc and Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania. A former professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, a player of Albanian national basketball team and a renown publicist, he entered active politics as Minister of Culture in 1998. In 2000, he became Mayor of Tirana. He was re-elected as Mayor in 2003 and 2007 and led the Albanian capital for 11 years. In 2005, he was elected Chair of the Socialist Party of Albania. Elected Albania’s Prime Minister for the first time in 2013, Edi Rama was re-elected for two new mandates in 2017 and in 2021. With a remarkably rich and diverse career path, he counts his contribution in arts, sports and teaching, as a publicist and politician. His involvement in the public and political life of the country starts with the movement for democracy that led to the dismantling of the communist regime in Albania.

Member of the Executive Board, Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e. V. (BDI, Federation of German Industries) since 2010. He was a member of the management of the SWP (2002-2010) and director of research (2007-2009). In 2010, he moved from the Foundation for Science and Politics (SWP) to the Federation of German Industries (BDI). From May to October he was head of the Department of International Markets. He also worked as an advisor on Africa at the SWP, becoming head of the research group Africa and Middle East in 1997. He holds a doctorate in Political Sciences from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.

Founder and CEO of Foxintelligence. Before founding Foxintelligence, he has been co-Founder and Managing Director at Westwing France. Prior to that, he worked at Bain & Company in France for 4 years. He also worked at Amazon. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from HEC Business School, France.

Managing Director (Research) and Chief Economist of the Eurasian Development Bank since 2015. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Central Bank of Russia, a member of the Council on Foreign and Defense policy, and a member of the Bretton Woods Committee. He worked at the IMF, where he was Advisor to the Executive Director for the Russian Federation in Washington (2001-2004). In 2004, he joined Deutsche Bank as Chief Economist; in 2009, he became Head of Company Research in Russia, and in 2011 a member of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank in Russia. He graduated from Harvard University, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and the London School of Economics. He holds a PhD in Economics and is a professor at the department of World Economy at the Diplomatic Academy.

Vice President, Department of International Macroeconomics & Finance, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP). He has been a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of International Macroeconomics & Finance at Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) since October 2003. He specialized in macroeconomics, Japanese economy and environmental economics. He graduated from Seoul National University and he holds a PhD in economics from Hitotsubashi University.

Managing Partner of Mazars Morocco in charge of the development of activities in Africa. Former President of the African and South-South Commission, General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises. He has more than 25 years of experience in consulting and advisory across the African continent. He also accompanies numerous Moroccan companies in their development on the African continent. His expertise in many economic sectors is regularly requested (Telecoms, Infrastructure, Health, Agriculture, Finance, etc.) as well as his knowledge of the African continent.

Economist specialized in consulting. His interests and his professional activity encompass natural resource economics (Morocco, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Benin among others) and social policy (Morocco, Sudan, West Africa). He has run a consulting company specialized in the economic sector, in Morocco for twenty years and he is still involved in it. He contributed to several Moroccan economic journals and he published in several reference books of the FAO, the World Bank and the University Mohammed V.

President of the General Council of Agricultural Development. He was chief agricultural negotiator in the free trade agreement between Morocco and the US. M. Ait Kadi is a member of the Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technology and Professor at the Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine Hassan II. He is also a member of the Academy of Agriculture of France, Oslo International Water Academy and the International Advisory Panel of the Bioeconomy World Summit. He is honorary vice-president of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage. He has authored numerous publications in the fields of irrigation, water management and rural development.

Head of the Commercial and development policies Unit at the General Secretariat for European Affairs. He teaches International Economics at Sciences Po Paris and is a former Deputy Secretary general of the Paris Club at the French Ministry of Economy and Finance. He also worked as Former Portfolio manager at the French government shareholding agency, as Deputy Head of Official Development Assistance and Multilateral development Institutions at the French Ministry of Finance, as project officer at the French Development Agency in Beijing and as a research assistant at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a graduate from Sciences Po Paris, Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and Johns Hopkins University.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar. He currently serves as the Chairman of Qatar Investment Authority and Qatar Development Fund. Previously he held the position of Assistant Foreign Minister for International Cooperation Affairs (2013). He has also served as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Qatar Mining Company. He joined the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in 2003 as an Economic Researcher and then became Director of Economic Affairs between 2005 and 2009. In June 2010, he was appointed Secretary of the Personal Representative of H.H. the Emir for Follow-up Affairs at the Emiri Diwan. He graduated in Economics and Business Administration from Qatar University.