Egypt

Name

Country

Role

Title

Short Bio

HE A. Kamal Aboulmagd

Egypt

Moderator

Doctorate in Law from Cairo University in 1958 (Thesis: Judicial Review of Legislation in Egypt and the U.S.A. published 1960, Cairo) and a Masters of Comparative Law from the University of Michigan in 1959.

Professor in Constitutional and Administrative Law at the School of Law, Cairo University since 1958, taught law at Al Azhar University in Cairo from 1961 through 1965,

Worked for the Egyptian Government in a number of capacities, starting as a District Attorney, Cultural Counselor to the Egyptian Embassy in Washington then in 1972 a member of the Egyptian Government, first as Minister of Youth and then as Minister of Information from 1973 to 1975.

He has also been appointed as an arbitrator in several commercial disputes both under the auspices of the ICC in Paris and under that of the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration.

Most recently, Dr. Aboulmagd was Vice President of the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt (2004 – 2010)

Ms. Reem Abu Hassan

Jordan

Participant

Board member, National Center for Human Rights

Active in the non-governmental sector, women’s rights, rule of law, juvenile justice and domestic violence. She is a lawyer, and hold a law degree from Harvard University.

HE Latifa Akharbach

Morroco

Discussant

Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of The Kingdom of Morocco

Mrs Latifa Akharbach, been Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of The Kingdom of Morocco since October 2007. Earlier, she was in charge of different high executive positions like General Director of Moroccan Public Radio, Director of the Institut Supérieur de l'Information et de la Communication ( Higher Institute of Information and Communication). She has been a teacher-researcher since she graduated from Université de Droit, d'Economie et de Sciences Sociales de Paris in 1988. As a teacher, she facilitated seminars related to Written Press. She has also offered consultancy services in communication and ongoing training to national and international institutions. Mrs Akharbach is the co-author of two books entitled Femmes et médias (Women and the Media) and Femmes et politique (Women and Politics). She has also published different essays and articles related to the field of media and communication.

HE Hani Al-Mulki

Jordan

Participant

Minister of Trade and Industry

Hani al-Mulki (also known as Hani Mulki, born 1951) is a Jordanian politician and diplomat. He was the Foreign Minister of Jordan from October 25, 2004 until April 7, 2005. He succeeded Marwan al-Muasher and was followed by Farouq Qasrawi. He was part of the negotiating team which produced a treaty between Jordan and Israel in 1994, and he has served as Jordan's ambassador to Egypt. Mulki was appointed as The Scientific Advisor to His Majesty, and then a member of the Senate. Mulki was reappointed and currently occupies the position of Jordan's Minister of Trade and Industries.

HE Amat Al Alim Alsoswa

Yemen

Speaker

Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Arab States

Ms. Amat Al Alim Alsoswa became Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator of UNDP and Director of its Regional Bureau for Arab States on 1 March 2006.   

Prior to joining UNDP, Ms. Alsoswa served as the Minister of Human Rights in Yemen, appointed in May 2003. The first human rights woman Minister in Yemen’s history, during her tenure, she established and oversaw Yemen’s first Human Rights Ministry, initiated the country’s first national human rights report, and established a public human rights resource center.

Ms. Alsoswa has worked as a consultant to UNDP and its sister agencies, and has published and lectured extensively. She has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Officier dans l’Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur (France) and the Medal of the Egyptian Committee for Afro Asian Solidarity (Egypt).  Ms. Alsoswa holds a B.A. in Mass Communications from Cairo University and an M.A. in International Communications from the American University in Washington, D.C.

Jorge Alcocer

Mexico

Speaker

Under Secretary of Political Development (1997-2000) & Senior Political Advisor of the PRI Presidential Candidate in 2000

Jorge Alcocer: was Under Secretary of Political Development in the Mexican Government (1998-2000); he was in charge of the relationship with Congress when for the first time there was no majority. He was Senior Political Advisor of the PRI Presidential Candidate in 2000.

He was in charge of the relations with Congress appointed by the PAN President elected in 2006. He has been advising the Senate on the electoral reform since 2006 and has been involved in all the political and electoral reforms in Mexico from 1986 on. Economist by academic training, he is director of magazine Voz y Voto (Voice and Votes) since 1993. Author of the book: “El voto de los mexicanos en el extranjero” (The Vote of the Mexicans Abroad ). Member of the House of Representatives from 1985 to 1988.

Ayman Al Sayyad

Egypt

Discussant

Editor in Chief, Weghet Nazar Magazine

Aimen Al-Sayyad is currently the Editor-in-Chief of "Weghat Nazar" Magazine – a leading intellectual affairs and book review publication in the Arab world, of which he had served as the Managing Editor since 2000. Prior to that, he served as the Regional Managing Editor and Cairo-Bureau Chief of the Pan-Arab, London-based weekly magazine “Al-Majalla,” between 1991 and 1998 after having worked as its Cairo correspondent since the beginning of his journalistic career in 1983. During his tenure as Al-Majalla’s Cairo-Bureau Chief he managed to place the Cairo Bureau at the forefront of all Al-Majalla's regional offices. In 1995, he was awarded The Ali & Othman Hafiz Award for Best Story in the Arab Press.

Abdel Fattah Amor

Tunisia

Participant

Commissioner- Commission to investigate Corruption

Abdelfattah Amor was Director of the Study and Research Unit on Law and Political Science at the Law Faculty of Tunis (1978-1979), Dean of the Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Science of Tunis (1987-1993) and member of the Constitutional Council from 1987 to 1992.

Sherif Amer

Egypt

Moderator

AlHayat AlYoum Talk Show Host, AlHayat TV

Having spent 4 years in Washington DC working for Al Hurra TV as senior program producer, and lead anchor, Sherif Amer is now a lead anchor of “Al Hayat TV”. Since 1994 to present, Amer has covered international events as senior correspondent and Anchor for Nile TV International, Nile News Channel, Al Hurra, and Al Hayat TV

He has closely covered major events that shaped the Middle East; the various stages of the Middle East peace process, Israeli Elections, US presidential elections, as well as other regional and local political events like the Egyptian first presidential elections of 2005 as an Al Hurra leading Anchor from Cairo.

Amer has conducted interviews with international high state officials, and heads of states; including Hosni Mubarak, Yasser Arafat, as well as other Arab leaders and officials. A highlight of his recent productions was the US presidential night, which he carried live for 12 hours to the Egyptian audience going between Cairo, Washington, and other world capitals via Satellite interviews and follow-up.

Sherif Amer joined the leading Arabic MBC Network in mid 2001 as content manager for its Cairo Regional Production Center. A year later, I became involved in recruitment of talents of Anchors, News Producers and journalists for Al Arabia TV.

Amer was warded best script writing and presenting award from the Cairo TV Festival 2003. (The Wall – Al Haaett)

 Awarded best documentary production Cairo TV & Radio Festival 2002. (Days of Jerusalem- Ayaam Maqdessya), also special honorary prize from TV Festival of Islamic Countries, IRAN 2002.

HE Celso Amorim

Brazil

Speaker

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs  & Brazil Former Ambassador to the UN

Celso Amorim: Was Minister of External Relations of Brazil under the administration of Presidents Itamar Franco from 1993 to 1994 and Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva from 2003 to 2010. Among his several ambassadorial posts, Ambassador Amorim served as the Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations and the World Trade Organizations. He also served as Ambassador of Brazil to the United Kingdom from 2001 to 2002. Foreign Policy magazine ranked him sixth among the 100 top global thinkers in 2010.

Genaro Arrigada

Chile

Speaker

Member of the Christian Democratic Party & Executive Secretary of the “NO Campaign” that defeated Pinochet in 1988 plebiscite

Genaro Arriagada: Was Minister Secretary of the Presidency in Chile (1994-1996) under the Eduardo Frei- Ruiz-Tagle administration, and was Ambassador of Chile to the United States (1998-1999). A member of the Christian Democratic Party, he was the Executive Secretary of the “NO Campaign” that ended up in the defeat of Augusto Pinochet in the plebiscite of 1988. He has taught at various universities in the United States and Europe and is the author of several books on the military, elections and political parties.

HE Michelle Bachelet

Chile

Speaker

Former President of Chile & Executive Director of UN-Women

Ms. Michelle Bachelet is the first Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, established on 2 July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly. UN Women attempts to lead, support and coordinate the work on gender equality and the empowerment of women at global, regional and country levels.

Ms. Bachelet most recently served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010. Ms. Bachelet also held ministerial portfolios in the Chilean Government as Minister of Defence and Minister of Health. As Defence Minister, Ms. Bachelet introduced gender policies intended to improve the conditions of women in the military and police forces. As Minister of Health, she implemented health care reform, improving attention to primary care facilities with the aim of ensuring better and faster health care response for families.

Siham Bensedrine

Tunisia

Discussant

Civil Society Activist (Tunisia)

Sihem Bensedrine a journalist and activist is also the founder & spokesperson of the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT)(1998)-received degree in philosophy from University of Toulouse. Honored with an International Press Freedom Award by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression in 2004. In 2008, Bensedrine also received The Danish Peace Fund Prize for her efforts in organizing a network among Arab human rights activists.

Sergio Bitar

Chile

Speaker

Former Finance Minister under Allende & former Minister of Education and Public Works

Was Minister during Chile’s Salvador Allende’s government and suffered imprisonment and exile after the 1973 military coup. He has been Senator, Minister of Education and Minister of Public Works in the presidential cabinets of Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet. He was president and co-founder of the Party for Democracy. Economist and politician, he is the author of several books including a best-selling memoir of his time in prison entitled Isla 10, which inspired the film Dawson, in 2009.

Taoufik Bouderbala

Tunisia

Participant

Chairman of the fact-finding commission on Abuses and Violations

Taoufik Bouderbala has been practicing law since 1970. He is currently a lawyer at the Court of Appeal, a lecturer at the University of Tunis and chairman of the fact-finding commission on abuses and violations committed during the Tunisian uprisings.

He previously served as chairman of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights and was appointed honorary Chairman after the regime change.

HE Helen Clark

New Zealand

Speaker

Administrator of the UNDP

Helen Clark became the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme on 17 April 2009, and is the first woman to lead the organization. She is also the Chair of the United Nations Development Group. Prior to her appointment with UNDP, Helen Clark served for nine years as Prime Minister of New Zealand, serving three successive terms from 1999 - 2008.

As Prime Minister, Helen Clark was a member of the Council of Women World Leaders.

Helen Clark came to the role of Prime Minister after an extensive parliamentary and ministerial career. First elected to Parliament in 1981, re-elected to her multicultural Auckland constituency for the tenth time in November 2008. Earlier in her career, she chaired Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Prior to entering the New Zealand Parliament, Helen Clark taught in the Political Studies Department of the University of Auckland.

Ibrahim el Hodaiby

Egypt

Discussant

Activist and researcher (Egypt)

Ibrahim El Hodaiby holds a BA in Political Science from the American University in Cairo where he is also doing a masters degree in professional development and comparative politics, He also holds diploma in Islamic studies from the High Institute of Islamic Studies, where he is currently doing a Masters in Sharia. He is also a leading young member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.

Hisham El-Khazindar

Egypt

Round table

Co-Founder and Managing Director of Citadel Capital

Hisham El-Khazindar is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Citadel Capital, the leading private equity firm in the Arab World.

Prior to co-founding Citadel Capital in 2004, Mr. El-Khazindar was Executive Director of Investment Banking at EFG-Hermes, where he developed the firm’s activities in Egypt and the region and advised on key transactions including the IPOs of Orascom Construction Industries, Ezz Steel and Orascom Telecom. In 1999, he was on secondment to Goldman Sachs in London, where he advised European corporations on strategic options and M&A transactions.

Mr. El-Khazindar sits on the board of several leading regional companies, including ASEC Holding and El Sewedy Cables. He is the Chairman of the Capital Markets & Investment Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce of Egypt, and a board member of the Egyptian Capital Markets Association (ECMA).

Holds a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

HE Mr. Mazen Al Saket

Jordan

Discussant

Minister of Political Development

Worked for 5 years at the League of Arab States. Worked as a senior advisor at the Petra Bank and then worked as an advisor to the Minister of Water and Irrigation. He was appointed as the head of the Civil Service Bureau in 2003. In January 2011, he was appointed as Minister of Public Sector Development and the Ministry of Political Development. During his short tenure he was able to merge the Ministry of Public Sector Reform with the Civil Service Bureau. In addition, he recommended to the Cabinet to merge the Ministry of Political Development and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

Lo’ay El Shawarby

Egypt

SS Rtables

Chairperson Nahdet AlMahrousa NGO (Egypt)

Loay El-Shawarby is Of-Counsel with Zaki Hashem & Partners, practicing in  the areas of international trade and competition laws. Mr. El-Shawarby also serves as adjunct lecturer of law and politics at `Ain Shams and Al-Azhar Universities. In 2004-2005, Mr. El-Shawarby was as a visiting fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

Between 1995 and 2000, Mr. El-Shawarby was deeply involved in El-Shawarby Trading Company, which is a full-fledged trading house involved in the import and distribution of beverages. Currently he sits on the board of directors of Maritime Solutions - Singapore; Nebras Technolgies, B2LS Consulting, and El-Shawarby Trading Company – Cairo, Egypt.

Graduate Diploma in Islamic Studies with a focus on Islamic Law and Jurisprudence, the American University in Cairo (2000).

Mr. El-Shawarby is a founding member and currently chairperson of the Nahdet El-Mahrousa (“NM”) NGO and an alumnus of the Georgetown Leadership Seminar (“GLS”) and AIESEC Egypt.

HE Geraldine Fraser- Moleketi

South African

Speaker

Former Minister of Services & Public Administration in Thabo Mbeki’s government

Ms. Fraser-Moleketi was appointed Director of the Democratic Governance Group  in January of 2009, after 14 years in the South African government, including as Minister of Public Service and Administration (1999 – 2004: in two consecutive cabinets); as Minister of Welfare and Population Development (1996 – 1999); as Deputy Minister of Welfare and Population Development (1995 -1996). A former member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress. Served as a member of Parliament, in the first democratic parliament, from 1994 until 2008.  Was a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

Ms. Fraser-Moleketi was a member of the African National Congress (SA) and was in exile from 1980 to 1990.  She served as Deputy National Elections Coordinator of the ANC, for the first democratic elections campaign that led to the inauguration of Nelson Mandela.

Ms Fraser-Moleketi led the campaign that had South Africa ratify the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women. She served as chairperson of the 4th Pan African Conference of Public Service Ministers and led the transformation and capacity building initiatives, which resulted in the development of the Charter for Public Service in Africa and establishment of African Management Development Institute Network. She was also involved in the Executive Committee and Governing Board of the Africa Training and Research Center in Administration as well as the Vice President for Africa of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences.

Dr. Ahmed Galal

Egypt

Discussant

Director of the Economic Research Forum (Egypt)

Ahmed Galal, currently Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum, a regional research institution covering the Arab countries, Iran and Turkey. Between 2000 and 2006, he was the Executive Director and Director of Research of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES), another independent think-tank dedicated to economic development in Egypt.

Mr. Galal was staff member of the World Bank for 18 years (1984-2006) during which- he served as industrial economist in the Europe, Middle East and North Africa region, senior then principal economist at the research arm of the Bank, economic advisor at the private sector development department and economic advisor at the Middle East and North Africa Region.

Mr. Galal received his Phd in Economics from Boston University and has published extensively, co-authoring/co-editing 10 books on a wide range of issues, including privatization, regulation of monopolies, trade, monetary policy and fiscal policy.

HE. BJ . Habibie

Indonesia

Speaker

Former President of Indonesia

B.J Habibie arguably started his career as Advisor to the Indonesian Government in Advanced Technology and Aircraft Technology- directly responsible to the President of the Republic of Indonesia (1974–1978). He later became Minister of State for Research and Technology concurrently Head of the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT). In 1998 Habibie was elected as the seventh Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR). When economic crisis led to political crisis the Indonesian people demanded reforms, then-President Soeharto announced his resignation and -in conformity with Article 8 of the 1945 Constitution- on the same day, Habibie took the oath of office as President before the Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court and his deputies.
President B. J. Habibie held the Presidential post for 518 days during which Indonesia conducted it’s first free and fair General Elections on June 7, 1999 but also succeeded in bringing about significant changes towards stabilizing, democratizing, and reforming Indonesia.

Amr Hamzawy

Egypt

Discussant

Professor of Political Science – Cairo University

Dr. Hamzawy is currently; research director and senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut- research interests include the changing dynamics of political participation in the Arab world and the role of Islamist movements in Arab politics. Dr. Hamzawi serves on the Middle East Advisory Council of Human Rights Watch, and the boards of Crisis International and the Arab Council for Social Science. Most recently, Dr. Hamzawy is a member of the “Committee of Wise men” (which he also represented as spokesman). He was also offered a position in Ahmed Shafik’s Cabinet. A regular contributor (Arabic and English) to various academic journals and writes a bi-monthly op-ed for the leading Arab daily al-Hayat.

Ph.D, Free University of Berlin; M.A. Institute of Social Studies, The Hague; M.A., University of Amsterdam; B.Sc., Cairo University

Dr. Heba Handoussa

Egypt

Discussant

Proffesor Of Economics

Lead Author of the Egypt Human Development Report (EHDR) 2010 with the theme of Egypt’s Youth amongst others. Dr. Handoussa was Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey (ERF) for ten years. Former Economics and Political Science Department Vice Provost in the American University in Cairo. currently serving on Egypt’s Coordinating Committee for Monetary Policy.

She is a former a member of the Shura Council, Egypt's Upper House of Parliament.  She was also a commissioner of the “World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization” of the ILO.

HE Abdel Aziz Hegazy

Egypt

Moderator

Former Prime Minister (Egypt)

PhD 1951 Faculty of Commerce & Social Sciences (Managerial Accounting) Birmingham University U.K. Former Prime Minister of Egypt, Former Deputy Prime Minister for Finance, Economy & Foreign Trade, Former Minister of Treasury & Finance & Management Development.

Mr. Hegazy is aMember of the Governing Board of the Center for Global Energy Studies London, and chairman of a number of culture forums in Egypt &Jordan. He holds the position of chairman of the union of NGOS in Egypt and published a number of books & articles & attends a number of national, Arab & international conferences

Dr. Ayman Ismail

Egypt

Dr. Ayman Ismail

Board member Nahdet el Mahrousa NGO (Egypt)

Dr. Ismail is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner in Enovio Consulting, a strategy management consulting firm operating in the US and the Middle East. Prior to that, Dr. Ismail was a senior consultant in McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm, based in New York for several years. Dr. Ismail has also consulted and conducted research for international organizations such as the World Bank and UNCTAD, as well as multiple US government agencies on economic development and public policy issues.

Dr. Ismail is a former Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University. He received his PhD in International Economic Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Ismail holds a bachelor degree in engineering and an MBA from the American University in Cairo, and a masters degree in city planning and geographic information systems from MIT.

Dr. Ismail is a Co-Founder and member the Board of Directors of Nahdet-El-Mahrousa (NM). Dr. Ismail also created and led “Mentoring for Leadership,” an innovative program aiming at developing young Egyptian talent through creating mentorship and personal development opportunities. In 2004-2005 he helped co-found and was the Planning Manager for the Egyptian American Community Foundation, a US-based non-profit foundation. He is also an alumnus of the Georgetown Leadership Seminar (GLS).

Dr. Fatema Khafagy

Egypt

Moderator

Board Member of the Arab Women Alliance (Egypt)

Ph.D. in Development Planning from University of London

Presently Senior Consultant on women’s rights and gender equality in the Arab region to  the UN WOMEN and to GIZ.

Dr. Khafagy was Ombudsperson of Gender Equality in Egypt, Former UNICEF head of Gender and Development Program and Ex Director general of Community Development Program of the Social Fund for Development

Khafagy is a Founding member of the People’s  Alliance Party, a Member of People’s fact finding committee (formed after the revolution to investigate  cases of those injured during the 25th January revolution), a board member of the Alliance for Arab Women, a member of the Coalition of feminist organizations in Egypt, a member of the Think Tank for Arab Women and a member of the advisory committee of the Library of Alexandria, an author of several publications on Women’s rights, civil society and gender based violence in the Arab region.

Mohamed Krichen

Tunis

Moderator

News Anchor, AlJazeera

Mohamed Krichen received his bachelor's in Media Science from the University of Tunisia in 1981. He was the Arab affairs editor in a number of newspapers in Tunisia and with the Reuters news agency. Krichen is formerly a reporter for the Monte Carlo and Netherlands Arabic radio stations, as well as for a number of Arab newspapers between 1988 and 1995. Krichen has been a producer and presenter for a political program on Tunisia’s radio station, a reporter for the MBC network, and was a news anchor for BBC Arabic from 1995 to 1996.

He has been working at Al Jazeera network since 1996 since then he has participated in Al Jazeera's major foreign coverage, conducted interviews with some of the most prominent Arab and international figures and presented many programs. He published two books, one in 1986 "P.L.O. History and Fractions", the second about Al Jazeera Channel in 2006.

Mr Raed Odwan

Jordan

Participant

Governor at the Ministry of Interior

Dr. Raed Sami Affash Aladwan has been in the Jordanian Ministry of Interior (MOI) since November 2006 upon his appointment as Governor in the MOI by His Majesty King Abdullah II. Since then he has served in a number of prominent positions including director of internal control and director of local development directorate.   Dr. Aladwan also served from 1992 to 2006 at the General Secretariat of the Higher Council for Science and Technology in charge of supporting innovations, development and creative designs, intellectual property rights, communication, cultural activities and public relations. Intermittently during 1999, he served at the Jordanian Prime Minister’s office as an advisor for Palestinian affairs directorate.

He is a member of many prestigious affiliations and organizations such as the Egyptian Association for International Law, the Jordanian Council for Intellectual Property Rights and Amman Al Ahlia Board. Since 2009, Dr. Aladwan has held the membership in the central and technical committees and national task forces for decentralization, poverty alleviation and unemployment program in Jordan.  Among his other areas of expertise, Dr. Aladwan is a Professor at Amman AL Ahlia University covering Human Rights, Civil Society and International Law courses. He is a Middle east expert and speaker for many different areas such as the Arab-Israeli conflict,  Social and International Humanitarian law, Development, Civil society, and Communication.  He was born in Jordan and educated in Jordan and Egypt. He received his Bachelor degree from Mu’tah University in 1992, his Masters in Law from AL-Bait University in 1997 and a PhD in Law from Cairo University in 2005.  He enjoys traveling, poetry reading, jogging, and swimming. He is married with two boys and two girls.

HE Mac Maharaj

South Africa

Speaker

Senior ANC Negotiator in Post-Apartheid era &

South Africa First Minister of Transport in Democratic South Africa

Mac Maharaj was appointed Special Envoy of the President of South Africa, HE Jacob G Zuma in November 2009.

Was a founding member of the South African Freedom Association and succeeded Solly Sachs as its secretary. He was a founding member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. In exile in July 1977, Maharaj was appointed secretary of the Internal Political and Reconstruction Department of the ANC in December 1977. This department was mandated to create and maintain the underground ANC within South Africa and to supervise the mass mobilization of the people within the country. He served on the Revolutionary Council and its successor, the Politico-Military Council of the ANC, since 1979. He was first elected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC in 1985 and was re-elected in 1991, 1994 and 19997.

Mac Maharaj was joint secretary – with Fanie van der Merwe- of the Transitional Executive Council, which oversaw South Africa’s transition to democracy. After South Africa’s first democratic election in April 1994 he was appointed Minister of Transport in the government led by President Nelson Mandela (1994-1999). He retired from Parliament in the 1999 election.

He obtained a BA from the University of Natal (1956) and a B.Admin. from the University of South Africa (1969).

HE Heraldo Muñoz:

Chile

Moderator

Director RBLAC

Heraldo Muñoz: Is currently UN Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Latin America and the Caribbean Bureau at UNDP. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the “No Campaign” for the 1988 plebiscite in Chile that defeated General Augusto Pinochet; he was a leader of the Socialist Party and a co-founder of the Party for Democracy. He was Minister Secretary General of Government in the Ricardo Lagos administration and served as Ambassador of Chile to the United Nations from 2003 to 2010. His memoir The Dictator’s Shadow won the WOLA-Duke University award to the best English-language book on Latin America, human rights and democracy.

Cesar Nava

Mexico

Speaker

Member of the House of Representatives (2009-2012 & 2000-2003). Member of National Defense House Committee. President of PAN Mexico political party

César Nava: Member of the House of Representatives of Mexico from 2009 to 2012 (also in 2000-2003). Member of the National Defense House Committee.  President of the political party PAN (Partido Acción Nacional) in 2009-2010. Secretary of the current President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon (2006-2008). Lawyer.

Amien Rais

Indonesia

Speaker

Leader in Mohammadiya Movement &

Indonesia Former Speaker of Parliament

Rais attended Al Azhar University, he earned his master degree from University of Notre Dame, Indiana; His thesis was on the Egypt's President Anwar Sadat's foreign policy. Earned Ph. D degree in political science from the University of Chicago; his thesis was " The Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt: Its Rise, Demise and Resurgence ".

A prominent Indonesian politician Mr Rais played a leading role in the reform movement that forced the resignation of President Suharto in 1998. Amien Rais was the leader of Muhammadiyah, one of the two biggest Muslim organizations in Indonesia, from 1995 to 2000. Mr Rais played a major role in establishing the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals, or ICMI, Rais formed the National Mandate Party, PAN and was the Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) from 1999 to 2004.

Justice Albie Sachs

South Africa

Speaker

Justice on the Constitutional Court appointed by Nelson Mandela

In 1966 he went into exile, spending eleven years studying and teaching law in England and eleven years in Mozambique as law professor and legal researcher.

During the 1980s working closely with Oliver Tambo, leader of the ANC in exile, he helped draft the organisation's Code of Conduct, as well as its statutes. In 1990 he returned home and as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the ANC took an active part in the negotiations that led to South Africa becoming a constitutional democracy. After the first democratic election in 1994 he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve on the newly established Constitutional Court which he did for 15 years his term ending 11th October 2009.

Received BA and LLB, University of Cape Town (1951 - 1953; 1955-1956) PHD, University of Sussex (1971)  

Dr. Ibrahim Saif

Jordan

Discussant

Economist

Dr. Ibrahim Saif is an economist by training. He obtained his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He has taught at both the University of London and Yale University, where he offered courses on the Economies of the Middle East. He is currently the Secretary General of the Economic and Social Council in Jordan.  He served as a Director of the Center for Strategic Studies (University of Jordan) and worked as a Resident Scholar (Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut). He is a fellow with the Economic Research Forum and member of the Global Development Network.

Marwa Sharafeldin

Egypt

Roundtable

Ph.D Candidate Oxford University (Egypt)

Marwa Sharafeldin is a Ph.D. student in the Law Faculty of Oxford University. She is active in the field of civil society in Egypt and worldwide on the issue of women's rights. She is a board member in Musawah, the international movement for Muslim family law reform, and the co-founder of the Network of Women's Rights Organizations in Egypt. She is the co-founder of the Young Arab Feminist Network as well as NGOs like Fat’het Kheir and Nahdet el Mahrousa.

She is a Legal Advocacy consultant for several national and international organizations. Marwa believes in removing the boundaries between the political, the social, the artistic and the radical. She is a story collector, a writer and performer in the Ana Masry Band which sings for national unity and equality for all Egyptians.

HE Jorge Taiana

Argentina

Speaker

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

Director of program of international relations St. Martin National University, Argentina. Was Deputy Foreign Minister and Minister of Foreign Relations of Argentina with President Nestor Kirchner and Minister of Foreign Relations with President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (2005 to 2010). A member of the Peronist Party he was imprisoned several years by the Argentine dictatorship in the 70s-80s. In the 1990s he was ambassador to Guatemala, and he served as Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights of the Organization of American States from 1996 to 2001.

Nassim Tarawneh

Jordan

Discussant

Media / Blogger

Naseem Tarawnah is the writer behind the award-winning blog, The Black Iris (www.black-iris.com), which won the Brass Crescent Award for Best Middle East Blog in 2008 and 2009; It recently named by CNN as one of the Top 10 Must Read Blogs of the Middle East. Naseem is co-founder and executive director of 7iber (hiber, ink) - a citizen media platform that is community-driven and youth centric, allowing average citizens to submit content for publication. He runs the organization's business arm, dubbed 7iberINC, which focuses on undertaking projects and trainings focusing on social media and digital storytelling, and works predominantly with youth, activists, journalists, refugees and students.

Naseem is currently finishing his Masters degree in public policy and management via correspondence at SOAS in the UK. He is also a senior writer at Jordan Business Magazine.

Ahmed Zahran

Egypt

Discussant

Renewable Energy & CDM Business Development Manager, Tri-Ocean Energy

Ahmed Zahran, is the business development manager for renewable energy and carbon trading at Tri-Ocean Energy (member of EK Holding Group). He is a holder of an MSc in Economics from the University of London. Zahran, worked with Shell Trading in London as a finance adviser for the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EUETS). Through his role, he was responsible for the compliance of the Shell installations in Europe with the EUETS through trading the carbon credits needed for their compliance.

Ahmed is also interested in the civil society in Egypt. He is a founder and a former board director of Nahdet El Mahrousa NGO that is currently one of the biggest Egyptian youth NGOs working on youth development projects. Ahmed is currently working with a group of the revolution activists on the establishment of a new political party concerned with sustainable development and energy issues.

HE Abderrazzak Zouari

Tunisia

Discussant

Minister of local development (Tunisia)

A Professor of Higher Education in Economics and a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Tunisia. Zouari has served as Director of the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Tunis between 1991 and 1997 and he continued to teach economics at the University of Carthage (IHEC).

He was coordinator and co-organizer of two consecutive cycles of Continuous Frames Fomation Managers in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and the support of the National School of Public Health in Rennes in 1994 and the University of Montreal in 1997.

An expert recognized by various international institutions like the World Bank, IMF, ADB, OECD and UNCTAD. He has contributed and done many studies on Tunisia from national bodies such as the IACE, SONEDE and ONAS. His efforts have earned Zouari numerous international awards including the Academic Palms in 2002.

Zouari currently holds the post of Minister of Local Development.