60th anniversary speakers
Key speakers
Key Speakers
His Excellency Azali Assoumani is a Comorian politician and military officer who has served as President of Comoros since April 2019. He was also president from 2002 to 2006 and from 2016 to February 2019. Between the years 1977 and 1980, Mr. Assoumani trained at the Royal Military Academy in Morocco and became a parachutist. He pursued a military career for two decades, completing further training at a French military academy in 1996, where he was promoted to colonel and chief of staff of the new National Development Army (NAD of Comoros). He retained this position until he became president of the Comoros Council of State in 1999.
Rebeca Grynspan, of Costa Rica, became UNCTAD's eighth Secretary-General on 13 September 2021 and is the first woman to lead the organization.
Prior to her UNCTAD appointment, she was the Ibero-American secretary-general from 2014 to 2021, also the first woman to head the organization. During her mandate, she has coordinated the 22-member Iberoamerican Conference and led four key summits of Heads of State and Government.
In 2010 she was appointed Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and prior to that was UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms. Grynspan served as Vice-President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. She was also Minister of Housing, Minister Coordinator of Economic and Social Affairs, and Deputy Minister of Finance. In 2021 she was named Special International Advisor to the newly created Economic and Social Council of Argentina and invited to join as member of the G20 High-Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.
In addition to her experience as a lecturer and advisor to several international organizations, she has been actively involved in key United Nations initiatives, such as the Millennium Project's Task Force on Poverty and Economic Development and the High-level Panel on Financing for Development.
In 2014 and 2015, she was recognized as one of the 50 leading intellectuals of Latin America. And she was recognized as one of the 100 most powerful women in Central America by Forbes magazine.
Ms Grynspan holds a degree in Economics by the University of Costa Rica and a MSc in Economics by the University of Sussex. She has been awarded a Doctorate Honoris Causa by the University of Salamanca, the University of Extremadura and the European University of Madrid in recognition of her outstanding professional achievements.
António Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on 1st January 2017.
Having witnessed the suffering of the most vulnerable people on earth, in refugee camps and in war zones, the Secretary-General is determined to make human dignity the core of his work, and to serve as a peace broker, a bridge-builder and a promoter of reform and innovation.
Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015, heading one of the world’s foremost humanitarian organizations during some of the most serious displacement crises in decades. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Yemen, led to a huge rise in UNHCR’s activities as the number of people displaced by conflict and persecution rose from 38 million in 2005 to over 60 million in 2015.
Before joining UNHCR, Mr. Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, during which time he was heavily involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor.
As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs, and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit. He was a member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1991 to 2002.
Mr. Guterres was elected to the Portuguese Parliament in 1976 where he served as a member for 17 years. During that time, he chaired the Parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance and Planning, and later the Parliamentary Committee for Territorial Administration, Municipalities and Environment. He was also leader of his party’s parliamentary group.
From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Guterres was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where he chaired the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees.
For many years Mr. Guterres was active in the Socialist International, a worldwide organization of social democratic political parties. He was the group’s vice-president from 1992 to 1999, co-chairing the African Committee and later the Development Committee. He served as President from 1999 until mid-2005. In addition, he founded the Portuguese Refugee Council as well as the Portuguese Consumers Association DECO, and served as president of the Centro de Acção Social Universitário, an association carrying out social development projects in poor neighbourhoods of Lisbon, in the early 1970s.
Mr. Guterres is a member of the Club of Madrid, a leadership alliance of democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world.
Mr. Guterres was born in Lisbon in 1949 and graduated from the Instituto Superior Técnico with a degree in engineering. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. He is married to Catarina de Almeida Vaz Pinto, Deputy Mayor for Culture of Lisbon, and has two children, a stepson and three grandchildren.
His Excellency Andry Nirina Rajoelina is a Malagasy-French politician and businessman who has served as president of Madagascar since 2023.
He previously served as president from 2019 to 2023 and was president of a provisional government from 2009 to 2014, having held the office of Mayor of Antananarivo for one year prior.
Before entering the political arena, Rajoelina was involved in the private sector, including a printing and advertising company called Injet in 1999 and the Viva radio and television networks in 2007.
José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão is an East Timorese politician. He has served as the 6th prime minister of East Timor since 2023, previously serving in that position from 2007 to 2015.
He also served as East Timor's first president since its re-establishment of independence, from 2002 to 2007.
Key Speakers
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Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi has been the Minister of Commerce since 2016. He also currently serves as chair of the board of directors for several organizations in his capacity as Minister of Commerce. These include the National Competitiveness Center, the Saudi Business Center, and Monshaat, the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority.
He also currently chairs the General Authority of Foreign Trade, the Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organization, along with the Saudi Accreditation Center. Additionally, he is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants.
Previously, Dr. Al-Kassabi served as Acting Minister of Media, Acting Minister of Rural Affairs, and Minister of Social Affairs. He also used to serve as Advisor at the Chief Administration Office of His Highness the Crown Prince with Minister’s rank.
Al-Kassabi earned his B.A. in Civil Administration from the University of Portland in 1981, followed by his Master’s in the same field from the University of Berkeley in 1982. In 1983, he earned his Master’s in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri, followed by his PhD in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri in 1985.
Dr. Al Zarooni is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Free Zones Organization, a multilateral organization which acts as an association for all free zones in the world. He is also the Secretary-General of the Dubai Free Zone Council.
With over 25 years of experience leading and developing free economic zones, H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al Zarooni is considered one of the world's top free zone influencing leaders.
In 2021, H.E. Dr. Al Zarooni was appointed as Executive Chairman of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ), holding three of Dubai's pioneering Free Zones, Dubai Airport Freezone, Dubai Silicon Oasis, and Dubai CommerCity.
In 2014, H.E. Dr. Al Zarooni was instrumental in conceptualizing and establishing the non-profit World Free Zones Organization.
In 2002, the Dubai Government appointed him as Vice Chairman and CEO of the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), one of the region's most advanced and successful technology hubs. He continues to lead Dubai Airport Freezone and Dubai Silicon Oasis concurrently.
In 2000, H.E. Dr. Al Zarooni was appointed as Director-General of the Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (DAFZA), which, through his visionary leadership, quickly grew to become one of the top-performing free zones in the world.
H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al Zarooni graduated with a Ph.D. Degree from the University of Durham in the U.K.
Richard Baldwin is Professor of International Economics. He is an expert in global economic policy and theory, specializing in international trade, and is recognized as an authority on the economic drivers and risks of globalization. His research interests include the impact of digital technology on the global economy, the future of work, globalization, regionalism, and European integration.
Baldwin’s work combines perspectives from economics and political economy, providing a comprehensive view that connects historical context, current events, and future trends. Following an initial interest in economic development, his focus switched to trade when he met Paul Krugman in 1982, under whose guidance he worked on his PhD and with whom he would go on to write several articles.
Baldwin advises governments and international organizations around the world on globalization and trade policy issues. During the administration of President George HW Bush, he was Senior Staff Economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, following trade matters such as the Uruguay Round and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations as well as numerous US-Japan trade conflicts.
Before joining IMD in 2023, he founded the economic policy portal VoxEU.org to promote research-based policy analysis and commentary by leading economists and has since served as its editor-in-chief. He was a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Trade from 2009 to 2015 and was twice elected to the Council of the European Economic Association. He also served as President of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) from 2014 to 2018.
Baldwin started his academic career as a professor at the Columbia School of Business in New York and has been a visiting professor at many universities, including MIT, Oxford, and EPFL. He was a long-time professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
Kalthoum Ben Rejeb has serverd as Minister of Trade and Export Development in the Government of Tunisia since 2023. She was previusly Tax Ombudsman within the Ministry of Finance.
She joined the General Directorate of Tax Control as a Public Services Adviser, where she rose through the ranks to become Director General.
She holds a master's degree in public law from the Faculty of Law in Sousse (1991), and is a graduate of Ecole Nationale d'Administration.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin took office as Secretary-General of the International elecommunication Union (ITU) on 1 January 2023.
Ms Bogdan-Martin has held leadership positions in the field of international telecommunications policy for over three decades, with a track-record of brokering innovative partnerships to expand digital inclusion and connectivity for everyone around the world. Following her historic election by ITU Member States in September 2022, she became the first woman ever to head the organization, which was first established in 1865 and became a UN specialized agency in 1947.
As Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau for a four-year term starting in 2018, she helped put sustainable digital development at the forefront of international cooperation, including with the private sector and civil society.
From 2008 until 2018, Ms Bogdan-Martin served as Chief of ITU's Strategic Planning and Membership Department, overseeing corporate communications, external affairs, corporate strategy, and membership. Earlier, she headed the Regulatory and Market Environment Division and Regulatory Reform Unit in the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau.
Before joining ITU in 1994, she worked at the U.S. Department of Commerce as a Telecommunication Policy Specialist in the National Telecommunication and Information Administration.
Ms Bogdan-Martin holds a Master's in International Communications Policy from American University in Washington, DC, a post-graduate certification in Strategies for Leadership from the Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a certification in Accountability and Ethics from the UN Leaders Programme. She is also a qualified amateur radio operator.
H.E Mr. Stephan Lars Andreas Brunner Neibig is a Costa Rican politician and economist who is the First Vice President of Costa Rica. He assumed office on 8 May 2022.
Mr. Brunner earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in cultural economics from the University of Kiel, a Master of Arts in economics from Indiana University Bloomington, and a PhD in economics from the University of Kiel.
Jean-Chrysostome Ngabitsinze is the Minister of Trade and Industry of Rwanda since 30 July 2022. Before this, he was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources since 9 March 2020, a position he was appointed to after being a Member of Parliament chairing the Public Accounts Committee in 2018.
Previously, he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Rwanda for over 10 years, where he taught agricultural economics and agribusiness among other courses, and from December 2018, he was promoted to Associate Professor.
Besides teaching and political work, he has served on various boards of Government Agencies. In 2016, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) for two years and in the same year 2016, was elected chairperson of the Huye District Council. Prior to that, he chaired the National Land Commission under the Ministry of Natural Resources for three years.
Mr. Ngabitsinze has a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the Doctoral School of Technological Innovation in Agri-food and Environmental Sciences from Milan State University, a Master's degree in Economics from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and a Bachelor's degree in Business Economics from Ca' Foscari University of Venice in Italy.
Dr. Rui Alberto de Figueiredo Soares is currently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, and Regional Integration in the Government of Cabe Verde.
He previously assumed the positions of Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, Minister of Health, Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Cabo Verde in Paris, Permanent Delegate of Cabo Verde to UNESCO, Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Communities.
As a politician, he has been a Member of Parliament and served as Parliamentary Leader of the MpD. He has led Cape Verdean delegations in various countries and institutions, such as the UN General Assembly, the Millennium Assembly, FAO, WHO, WTO, ACP/EU, European Commission, Francophonie, UIP.
He also has experience as a lecturer. In the IX Legislature, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Integration, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Communities, and Minister of Defense.
Rui Miguêns de Oliveira was appointed Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Government of Angola on 12 July 2023. He was previously Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Angola and Executive Vice President of Banco Keve.
Mr. de Oliveira is the founder of Banco Valor, an institution where he held, among others, the positions of Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors (2014); Vice-President of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Executive Committee (2013-2014); and Chairman of the Board of Directors (2011-2013).
His academic curriculum includes courses in financial programming and policy analysis from the Bank of Portugal and the IMF Institute, as well as a course of public finance management by Harvard University, Massachusetts, United States of America.
He has a degree in Economics from the University of Havana, Cuba. It also has the courses of Reserve Management and Foreign Exchange Policy – ESADARM/FMI – Kadoma, Zimbabwe; Monetary and Foreign Exchange Operations – IMF Institute, Washington, United States of America (US); Reserve Management – First National Bank of Pretoria, South Africa, and the course of Risk Management and Analysis of Public Projects, by Duke University of North Carolina, USA.
