Category: Invited guests

Founder of Hubert Védrine Conseil, a public affairs consultancy specialized in international, economic and geopolitical issues. He was President of the Institut François Mitterrand until 2022. Prior to that, Hubert Védrine served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under the government of Lionel Jospin from June 1997 to May 2002. From 1996 to 1997, he was a partner in the law firm Jeantet et Associés. He was a member of the French Council of State as maître des requêtes in 1986-1988 and 1995-1996, and then in 2002-2003. From 2005 to 2021, he led a seminar at Sciences Po Paris on the perception of threats in international relations. From 1981 to 1995, he was diplomatic advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, spokesman and, from 1991 to 1995, Secretary-General. Before that, he was a civil administrator in the Ministry of Culture from 1974 to 1981. In 2020, he was appointed by France to participate in the group of personalities in charge of a reflection on the future of NATO in 2030. He is the author of numerous books. In June 2020, he published an essay on the pandemic, Et après ? (Fayard), in 2021, Dictionnaire amoureux de la géopolitique and in 2022, Une Vision du Monde (BOUQUINS) which brings together his main texts of the last 30 years. In 2024, he edited the collective work Les Grands diplomates (Perrin), published a new edition of his Atlas of Crises and Conflicts (with Pascal Boniface) and wrote a very personal text entitled Camus, notre rempart (Plon). In January 2025, he will publish Nouveau Dictionnaire amoureux de la géopolitique (Plon). Mr. Védrine also has a degree in history, and is an alumnus of ENA.

Former Foreign Affairs Minister of Kenya. When the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) took over in 2003, he became Information Minister after being elected as a Member of Parliament from Rarieda Constituency in the December 2002 parliamentary election. Prior to the 2005 referendum vote in Kenya, he formed the Progressive People’s Party and joined the NARC through the LDP. In the December 2007 parliamentary election, running as a candidate of Kibaki’s Party of National Unity, he lost his seat. He has a Master’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Leicester.

Former President of the French “Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques”. He is honorary chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bruegel Institute (Brussels), honorary chairman of the Group of Thirty (Washington) and former European Chairman of the Trilateral Commission. Jean-Claude Trichet was President of the European Central Bank (2003-2011). He was Governor of Banque de France (1993-2003) and Undersecretary of the French Treasury (1987- 1993). He was President of the Paris Club (debt rescheduling) (1985-1993), President of the European Monetary Committee (1992-1993), President of the Group of 10 Central Banks Governors and President of the Global economy meeting in Basel (2002-2011). He was President of Sogepa (Société de Gestion des Participations Aéronautiques) (2012-2013) and Director of Airbus Group (2012-2018). He was named “Person of the Year” by the Financial Times in 2007 and n° 5 of the “World Most Powerful” in the Newsweek list (2008). Born in Lyon in 1942, Jean-Claude Trichet is an honorary inspecteur général des Finances and ingénieur civil des Mines. He is a graduate of the Institut d’études politiques de Paris, of the Université de Paris (in economics) and of the École Nationale d’Administration. Jean-Claude Trichet has been awarded honorary doctorates by several universities.

Dr. Ahmad Tibi is an Arab-Israeli politician and leader of the Arab Movement for Change (Ta’a). He currently serves as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, head of Raam-Taal Parliamentary faction, and head of the Parliamentary Enquiry Committee on the Employment of Arabs in the Public Sector. Before being elected to the Knesset at 1999, Tibi served as Senior Advisor for the late Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, and was the spokesperson of the Palestinian Delegation at Why River Summit. As one of the most prominent politicians in Israel, he describes himself as Arab-Palestinian in nationality and Israeli in citizenship. Dr. Ahmad Tibi is also a physician, graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Former CEO of Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. He has more than 35 years of experience in senior public-bank and microfinance positions. Former Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India where he worked for over three decades, culminating as an Executive Director and including more than 10 years dedicated to cooperatives, rural credit and microfinance. More recently, he has been Managing Director and later Chairman of India’s National Bank of Rural and Agricultural Development (NABARD, 2004-2007), Chairman of the Expert Groups on Credit Deposit Ratio and Investment Credit, and Chairman of the Micro Finance Development and Equity Fund. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Shivaji University, Kolhapur.

Chairman and CEO of OCP Group. He was an advisor in the Royal Cabinet and also served as Secretary-General of the MENA Economic Summit. In 1998, he was appointed Director-General of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency. Then, he joined the World Bank as Lead Regulatory Specialist in the Global Information and Communications Department, and headed the World Bank’s Information for Development Program. He holds a MS and a PhD in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received an engineering diploma from the ENPC, Paris.

Special Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. He brought AGRA more than 30 years of experience in management, policy development, and investment in rural development and agriculture in developing countries. Previously, he was the Assistant Director-General and Head of Technical Cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome. He has served in various senior capacities at the UN, worked with the Institute of Development Research in Ethiopia and the World Bank in Washington, DC. He has a PhD in International Economics and Development from Cornell University, Ithaca, USA.

Chairman, independent Energy Policy Institute, a New Delhi think tank. He is rated as India’s top expert on national and international energy issues. He is also the Founder President of the prestigious World Energy Policy Summit (WEPS) and a Visiting Professor at the NTPC School of Business in India, focusing on energy policy and governance. He served as Chairman of Energy Security Group of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Chairman of the Energy and Green Economy Working Group (India) of the BRICS Business Council. Mr. Taneja is well-known in public life as a thinker, politician, TV debater and conversationalist. He had served as a National Spokesperson of the BJP, India’s governing party. He has authored several books, including Mantras for A Golden India and Glory. Growth. Goals. – India’s Oil and Gas Industry.

President of Berit International Holding SA, President of Batiliban-France, Franco-Arab Consortium for development, board member of the executive committee of the Franco-Arab Chamber of Commerce, Paris, board member and founding member of the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce, Beyrouth. He was Advisor to the Lebanese President for the French-speaking world (1986-1988) and Advisor to the Minister of Finance for the private sector (1999-2001). He is the author of numerous books and studies on economic development, environment and land-use planning. He graduated from the Institut d’Urbanisme, Paris-Sorbonne University.

Member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques. Agrégé in Public Law, he is Emeritus Professor of Public Law, University of Paris Panthéon-Assas, where he set up the Master of International Relations (2000-2012). He was Deputy Director of the UNIDIR, Geneva (1986-1996) and ad hoc Judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (2009-2012). He is the founder and was Director (1999-2012) of the Thucydides Center-Analysis and Research in International Relations, and Director (2000-2020) of the French Yearbook of International Relations (AFRI). He is also Editor-in-chief of the bimonthly journal Questions internationales since 2003 (Documentation française). In 2008, he received the Edouard Bonnefous Award from the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, Institut de France.

Member of the Atlantic Council of the United States. As a career officer in the United States Foreign Service for 35 years, Ambassador Stadtler was assigned to the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa, Ethiopia, Sweden and Benin.  He served as Advisor to the US Secretary of Defense, European Advisor to the US Mission to the United Nations, Vice President of National Defense University in Washington, DC, and as an advisor to the leaders of the Baltic Republics on developing their post-Cold War policies. From 2008 – 2010, he was President and CEO of the National Defense University Foundation.  A graduate of Fordham University in Classics, he pursued graduate studies at Columbia University and also studied at the Sorbonne and the University of Perugia in Italy. He is interested in political-military affairs as well as development issues such as the provision of clean water and micro-enterprise capacity building.

Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ontario. He is Executive Director of the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria. Earlier in his career he was Deputy Foreign Minister of Canada and the Prime Minister’s Personal Representative (Sherpa) for the G7/8 summits. He has been Ambassador to NATO and the EU. He has also occupied the position of Associate Secretary to the Cabinet. He was Chairman of the Board of the International Development Research Centre.

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.