Dr. Rania Al Mashat is Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation since December 2019, and previously served as the country’s first female Minister of Tourism. Prior to that, she was Advisor to the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC. She specialized in central banking issues and designing monetary policy frameworks. Her other former roles include serving as Sub-Governor for Monetary Policy at the Central Bank of Egypt, Senior Economist at the IMF, Deputy Project Director for the Institutional Reform and Informal Sector Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA.

She represents Egypt as Governor in several international financial institutions, including the World Bank Group, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, and Arab Bank for Economic Development; and as Alternate Governor of Egypt at the African Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and Islamic Development Bank.

Al-Mashat received her PhD and MA in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park, USA, and BA in Economics from AUC.

His Excellency Mr. Ayman Hussein Safadi was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in October 2020. From January 2017 until October 2020, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.

Minister Safadi served as a member of the Jordanian Senate, where he presided over the Senate Communications and National Guidance Committee and served as a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. In 2010, Mr. Safadi was appointed as Deputy Prime Minster, State Minister, and Spokesperson for the Government. In addition, Mr. Safadi served as an advisor to His Majesty King Abdullah II from 2008 until 2010.

In 2004, Minister Safadi served as a Spokesperson for the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq. He served as Director of communications at the Royal Hashemite Court also as Press Secretary to HRH Prince El-Hassan bin Talal. Mr. Safadi is the founding Chief Executive Officer of Path Arabia, a political consultancy that operated out of Abu Dhabi and specialized in producing policy papers and political analysis of regional issues and international affairs affecting the Middle East.

Born in 1962, in Jordan, His Excellency Safadi holds a master’s degree in International Journalism from Baylor University in Texas and a bachelor’s degree in English Language & Literature from Yarmouk University. Mr. Safadi edited a number of Jordanian newspapers, including the Jordan Times and AlGhad. He is also a regular commentator on Middle Eastern affairs for regional.

As the Minister for Climate Change and Environment, Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri leads the Ministry’s mission of spearheading the UAE’s drive to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, protect the country’s ecosystems, and enhance its food and water security through developing and implementing effective measures, policies, and initiatives.

Prior to her current role, Her Excellency Almheiri was Minister of State for Food and Water Security. Her responsibilities included monitoring national food stocks and water supply, channeling investments in food and water technology innovation, and building international partnerships in this area.

Previously, Minister Almheiri held the post of Minister of State for Food Security, where she oversaw the development of the necessary infrastructure to achieve the country’s food security objectives in line with the UAE Centennial 2071.

Dr. Majed Al-Ansari serves as an advisor to Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and is the President of the Qatar International Academy for Security Studies. Prior to this, he was at the Institute of Social and Economic Survey Research at Qatar University, where he worked as Director of the Policy Department, in addition to his work as an assistant professor in the University’s Department of International Affairs.

Dr. Majed Al-Ansari began his career as a researcher in international relations in the office of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2005.After that, he moved to work in several civil society institutions, in addition to working in an advisory capacity with several governmental and semi-governmental institutions. Dr. Majed Al-Ansari obtained his MA and Ph.D. degrees in the social transformation from the Cathy Marsh Institute at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and a BA in Political Science from Leeds University in the United Kingdom, and contributed to many edited academic books such as the book "Contemporary Qatar" published by the Center for Studies in The Gulf and Springer House, and the book “The Countries of the Arab Gulf” published by the Arab Center for Research. He also published many papers in academic journals such as the Journal of Balkans and Near Eastern Studies, in addition to numerous press articles and media posts.

Mr. Ahmet Yıldız was appointed as Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkey in 2016. He has been a member of the Foreign Affairs Ministry since 1989. Mr. Yıldız worked as Deputy Head of the mission at the Damascus Embassy between 2000 and 2002 and 2005-2006, and also worked as Deputy Head of mission at the Riyadh Embassy between 2004 and 2005. From 2006 to 2008, Yıldız served as Turkey’s Consulate General in Jeddah. Additionally, he was appointed as the Department Head of the Foreign Ministry in Iraq between the years 2008-2009 and worked as Turkey’s consulate general in Mosul from 2009 to 2011. From 2011 to 2014, Yıldız was Turkey’s Ambassador to Sarajevo. Since 2014, he has served as the principal consultant to the Prime Minister, in addition to serving as a member of the Foreign Policy Consultative Committee. When then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected President of Turkey, Yıldız was appointed as the principal consultant on foreign policy for the presidency.

Tim Lenderking is the U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen. Mr. Lenderking previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arabian Peninsula Affairs in the Near East Bureau at the U.S. Department of State. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service.

Mr. Lenderking served previously as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 2013-2016. He served as the Director of the Pakistan Office at the Department of State from 2010-2013.

From 2008-2010, Mr. Lenderking completed two tours in Baghdad, the first as the Senior Democracy Advisor at the US Embassy, and the second as the Policy Advisor to LTG Charles Jacoby, Commanding General of Multi-National Forces Iraq (MNF-I), based at Camp Victory.

Amer Bisat, PhD., Managing Director, is Head of Emerging Markets (EM) Fixed Income and a member of the Fundamental-GFI Executive Committee. In this role, he oversees the team managing the firm's EM portfolios across hard currency, local and corporate debt instruments. Mr. Bisat's service with the firm dates back to 2013. Prior to BlackRock, he was a partner in two macro hedge funds (Traxis and Rubicon) and held portfolio management responsibilities at Morgan Stanley and UBS. Between 1991 and 1998, he was a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund where he helped negotiate high profile programs with Russia, Ukraine and Egypt.

Mr. Bisat taught graduate level economics courses at Columbia University, co-authored a book on globalization, and academic and policy papers on growth and financial sector development. He is a trustee of a number of cultural and art institutions, sits on the Advisory Council of the Carnegie Middle East Center and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Bisat earned a BA in economics from the American University of Beirut and a PhD. in economics and finance from Columbia University.

Francesco La Camera is the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He was appointed at the Ninth Assembly of IRENA, the ultimate decision-making body of the Agency. Mr. La Camera took office on 4 April 2019 and brings more than thirty years of experience in the fields of climate, sustainability, and international cooperation.

In his role, Mr. La Camera is responsible for leading the delivery of IRENA’s work programme and strategy in cooperation with the Agency’s member states. At a critical time for climate change and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, Mr. La Camera is tasked with redefining the structure and operations of the Agency in response to the urgent needs of its members.

Under his leadership the Agency has forged a series of new strategic partnerships with UN organisations including UNDP, UNFCCC and Green Climate Fund among others. A key priority of his tenure is to implement a more action-oriented approach to the Agency’s work.

Previously, Mr. La Camera served as Director-General of Sustainable Development, Environmental Damage, EU and International Affairs at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea since 2014. In this capacity, he developed cooperation and partnership agreements with a wide range of countries, particularly developing countries including Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Helima is a Managing Director and the Head of Global Commodity Strategy and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Research at RBC Capital Markets. She specializes in geopolitics and energy, leading a team of commodity strategists that cover energy, metals and cross-commodity investor activity. Helima is a member of the National Petroleum Council, a select group of individuals who advise, inform and make recommendations to the Secretary of Energy with respect to any matter relating to oil and natural gas. She also is a CNBC contributor, a member of the channel’s exclusive family of experts, is on the Board of Directors for the Atlantic Council, is a member of the Trilateral Commission, and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Helima joined RBC Capital Markets from Barclays, where she was a Managing Director and Head of North American Commodities Research. Prior to that, she worked in Lehman’s Business Intelligence group, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Central Intelligence Agency, where she focused on geopolitics and commodities. Helima has received many industry accolades throughout her career and received her PhD in economic history from Princeton in 2001.

Dr. Sara Vakhshouri is also the founder of SVB Green Access, a non-profit organization that promotes and provides an affordable and inclusive energy program to areas in which energy poverty exists, and safe water access is either poor or would be in great need in the future. Dr. Vakhshouri has two decades of experience of working in the energy industry with extensive experience in global energy market studies, energy strategy, energy security and geopolitical risk. She has consulted numerous governments on their energy strategy, public and private entities, and international organizations like IMF, World Bank. She is also Professor of Energy Security at the IWP graduate school of national security, statecraft, and international affairs. Dr. Vakhshouri is also a senior fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

Dr. Vakhshouri has advised various governments, energy companies, investment banks, financial institutions, law firms and international corporations on energy security strategies and energy transition, energy markets, trading and the geopolitics of energy, and investment patterns. She is also a member of the Energy Task Force of the Cyprus Climate Initiative which was launched and initiated by the President of the Republic of Cyprus. She has published articles in numerous journals including The Economist, Middle East Economic Survey, and Oil and Gas Journal. Dr. Vakhshouri has also contributed to different energy research works and studies at the International Energy Agency (IEA), Harvard University’s Kennedy School, Oxford Energy Institute, CEDIGAZ, Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University and The Economist’s Energy Intelligence Unit.

Dr. Vakhshouri has a PhD in Energy Security and Middle Eastern Studies. She has an MA in Business Management (International Marketing) and another MA in International Relations. She has been a Senior Energy Fellow at the Atlantic Council and at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.