The Geopolitics of Africa and the Superpowers (Frensh)

December 14, 2017

Moderator: John Yearwood, Executive Board Chairman, International Press Institute - Karen Donfried, President, The German Marshall Fund of the United States - Ana Palacio, Member, Council of State, Spain - Fathallah Sijilmassi, Secretary General, Union for the Mediterranean - Aminata Touré, Former Prime Minister, Senegal - Lanxin Xiang, Professor, Graduate Institute of Geneva

Speakers
John Yearwood
President and CEO, Yearwood Media Group
An award-winning multimedia journalist, John Yearwood is President and CEO of Yearwood Media Group, a global consulting and content creation firm. In his role as President/CEO of Yearwood Media, he advises companies seeking to do business in emerging markets, with a particular focus on Africa and Asia. In 2019, he was appointed honorary chair of the the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention, which convened 4,100 black journalists in Miami. He sits on several boards, including the Austria-based International Press Institute, where he is the former chairman. Former world editor of the Miami Herald. The World Desk won numerous awards under his leadership, including two McClatchy Company President’s Awards and the Arthur Ross Award for best coverage of Latin ...
Ana Palacio
Spain
Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Kingdom of Spain
...
Fathallah Sijilmassi
Former Secretary General, Union for the Mediterranean
Born on 21 August 1966 in Rabat (Morocco), Fathallah Sijilmassi is an economist and a career diplomat. After having worked at the Banque Commerciale du Maroc (currently Attijariwafabank) in Milan (Italy) from 1989 to 1992, then at the Ministry of Foreign Trade from 1992 to 1999, he held the functions of Director of Multilateral Cooperation (1999-2001), and Director of European Affairs (2001-2003) within the Moroccan diplomacy. In 2003, he was appointed by His Majesty the King of Morocco Ambassador of Morocco to the European Union (2003-2004), then to France (2005-2009). From 2009 to 2012, he leads the new Moroccan Agency for Investment Development. During this period, many multinational companies and SMEs chose Morocco as a regional platform. From 2012 to 2018, Fathallah Sijil ...
Aminata Toure
Former Prime Minister of Senegal
Dr. Aminata Toure, former Prime minister (2013) and former Minister of Justice (2012-13) of Senegal, trained as an economist in France and the United States. Previously, she worked for 20 years in the United Nations system, where she championed human rights and women’s rights. Toure has been involved in politics since her student years. In 2011, she left the UN to campaign for the then presidential candidate Macky Sall. Toure remains very active in promoting good governance and fighting impunity in Senegal and Africa in general. She was the head of the African Union Observation Mission for Mauritius general elections in 2014. ...

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