Keynote Speakers

António Guterres　※video message
Secretary-General of the United Nations

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, from refugee camps to war zones, the Secretary-General has centered his efforts on ensuring human dignity for all. In a period of unprecedented global challenges, he has drawn on his commitment to the UN Charter to mobilize people and launch action to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, address the climate emergency, advance gender equality, and achieve ambitious 21st century reforms to enhance the Organization's vital efforts to secure peace, sustainable development, human rights and humanitarian aid.

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 and has two children, a stepson and three grandchildren.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Former President Of Indonesia

coming soon

Ahunna Eziakonwa
United Nations Development Program Assistant Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa

Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa is UNDP Assistant Administrator, and Director, Regional Bureau for Africa at the rank of Assistant Secretary General. She leads over 4000 staff implementing a $1.2 billion annual development programme in 46 African countries. She is deeply passionate about equality, inclusion, reshaping narratives on Africa, mobilizing for youth entrepreneurs and the dignity of Africa's people. Her vision "Africa's Promise: The UNDP
Renewed Strategic Offer in Africa" employs an opportunity lens to development practice in Africa. She established the Africa Influencers for Development (AI4D) to ensure that Africa's Money works for Africa's Development; the Africa Young Women Leaders Initiative; Africa Innovates Magazine; and the Africa Borderlands Centre. She leads UNDP Africa socioeconomic response and recovery from COVID 19 and (Co) Chairs the UN Africa Regional Collaborative Platform which oversees implementation of the Secretary General's regional UN reform. She spent 10 years as UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Lesotho. As Chief (Africa) at UN OCHA, she led response to natural disasters, emergencies and transitions to recovery. Before the UN, Ms. Eziakonwa worked for "Initiatives of Change" serving as international coordinator of its' "Creators of Peace - Women's Initiative". She is an alumni of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Executive Programme and has a Bachelors in Education from University of Benin Nigeria.

José Manuel Ramos-Horta
President of Timor-Leste

Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta (born 26 December 1949) has been President of the Democratic

Republic of Timor-Leste since 2022, having previously held the position from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2002 to 2006 and Prime Minister from 2006 to 2007. Along with Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, he was a co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.

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Guest Speakers

Shannon K. O'Neil
Senior vice president, director of studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg chair, Council on Foreign Relations

Shannon K. O'Neil is senior vice president, director of studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg chair at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she oversees the work of the more than six dozen fellows in the David Rockefeller Studies Program as well as CFR's fourteen fellowship programs. She is a leading authority on global trade, supply chains, Mexico, and Latin America. Dr. O'Neil is the author of The Globalization Myth: Why Regions Matter, which chronicles the rise of three main global manufacturing and supply chain hubs and what they mean for U.S. economic competitiveness. She also wrote Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead, which analyzes the political, economic, and social transformations Mexico has undergone over the last three decades and why they matter for the United States. She has taught at Harvard and Columbia Universities, and began her career in emerging markets finance.

Joaquim Levy
Former Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer

Joaquim Levy is an Executive VP (Diretor) at Banco Safra SA and former Finance Minister of Brazil, General Manager and CFO of the World Bank Group, President of BNDES, and CEO of Bradesco Asset Management.

Dr. Levy is Co-chair of Latam and Chair of Brazilian Chapter of Gfanz, Co-chair of the Bretton Woods Committee Multilateral Reform Working Group, Board Member of World Resources Institute-WRI, Head of the Sustainable Development Council of Sao Paulo Industry Federation--FIESP and was a member of the UN Expert Group for Net Zero Recommendations for non-State Actors. He earned a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago, a MS - Getulio Vargas Foundation, and BS in Naval Architecture from UFRJ in Brazil.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Former Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development of UNDESA

Jomo Kwame Sundaram is Research Adviser at the Khazanah Research Institute. He is also Fellow of the Academy of Science, Malaysia and Emeritus Professor at the University of Malaya. He was UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development (2005-12) and Assistant Director General for Economic and Social Development, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2012-15). He received the 2007 Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought and honorary doctorates from several universities. The World Academy of Sciences has announced he will share the 2026 TWAS Award in Social Sciences. Jomo has authored and edited over a hundred books and translated 12 volumes besides writing many academic papers and media articles. He was Professor in the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya until November 2004, Founder Director (1978-2004) of the Institute of Social Analysis (INSAN), Founder Chair (2001-04) of IDEAs, International Development Economics Associates (www.ideaswebsite.org), independent member of the National Economic Consultative Council (1989-91) and President of the Malaysian Social Science Association. He is on the editorial boards of several learned journals.Jomo studied at the Royal Military College (1967-70), Yale College (1970-73) and Harvard University (1973-77). He taught in Malaysia from 1974, and at Harvard, Yale, and Cornell. He has also been Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University and the National University of Singapore.

David A. Chikvaidze
Former Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)

Dr David Chikvaidze has nearly four decades of experience in the foreign service and international civil service, specializing in the challenges of multilateralism, great power relationships, Eurasian geopolitics, and global security. As Chief of Staff to five Directors-General of the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG), he provided strategic advice and back-channel diplomacy. Fluent in four languages, he has negotiated and mediated on complex issues across diverse cultural contexts, participating in key talks on humanitarian aid and security in North Korea, Western Sahara, and the Iran nuclear program. Chikvaidze's career includes significant contributions to institution-building, such as establishing the prototype of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and modernizing the UN Library in Geneva. He frequently appears on television and before live audiences, has written, and lectured on multilateralism, has taught courses on diplomacy and geopolitics, and served as thesis advisor. He holds a Ph.D. in political science and is involved in various international and academic initiatives. Born in Tbilisi, he is a Georgian citizen with extensive global networks.

Shiro Armstrong
Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Professor

Shiro Armstrong is Professor of Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. He is Director of the Australia-Japan Research Centre, Editor of the East Asia Forum, and Director of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research. He is also a Visiting Professor at Keio University, Research Associate at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at the Columbia Business School, Visiting Lecturer at the University of Tokyo and Non-resident Fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan. He is the recipient of the 2024 Nakasone Yasuhiro Award.

Participants from Ten thinktanks

Ettore Greco
Executive Vice President, Institute of International Affairs (IAI), Italy

Ettore Greco is Executive Vice President of the IAI and also head of the Italy's foreign policy and the Multilateralism and global governance programmes of the institute. He was also Director of the IAI from 2008 to 2017. He worked as visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution from January 2006 to July 2007. He taught at the universities of Parma and Bologna. From 2000 to 2006 he worked as correspondent for the Economist Intelligence Unit. From 1993 to 2000 he directed the IAI's program on Central and Eastern Europe. He was also Deputy Director of the IAI from 1997 to 2008. From 2000 to 2006 he was Editor of The International Spectator. He is the author of a number of publications on the EU's institutions and foreign policy, transatlantic relations and the Balkans. He has been a free-lance journalist since 1988.

ONG Keng Yong
Executive Deputy Chairman, S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore

Ambassador ONG Keng Yong is Executive Deputy Chairman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore since November 2014.  Concurrently, he is Ambassador-at-Large at the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, non-resident High Commissioner to Pakistan and non-resident Ambassador to Iran.  Mr. Ong also serves as Chairman of the Singapore International Foundation (SIF).
Mr. Ong was High Commissioner of Singapore to Malaysia from July 2011 to October 2014.  He served as Secretary-General of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), based in Jakarta, Indonesia, for five years from January 2003.
He was Singapore's High Commissioner to India and concurrently Ambassador to Nepal from 1996 to 1998.  From September 1998 to December 2002, he was Press Secretary to the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Goh Chok Tong. From 2008 to 2011, he served as Director of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal
President, Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Brazil

Professor Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal is President of the Getulio Vargas Foundation since August 2000. In 1980, he graduated in Civil Engineering from the Engineering School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), but opted for an academic life and graduated in Mathematical Economics from the "Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada", in 1982. Doctor degree at the "Escola de Pós Graduação em Economia" - EPGE of Getulio Vargas Foundation (1980-1982) and obtained the title of Doctor in Economics from Princeton University (USA) in 1986. At FGV, he held the following positions: director of FGV Business, 1992-4; general director of EPGE, 1994-7; and vice-president of FGV, 1997-2000.

Kudo Yasushi
President, The Genron NPO, Japan

Yasushi Kudo is the founder and president of the Genron NPO since its establishment in 2001. In 2005, he launched annual civil dialogue "Tokyo-Beijing Forum" and joint opinion poll between Japan and China, which have been conducted over the 19 years since then. In 2013, he newly launched a dialogue, the Japan-Korea Future Dialogue, between Japan and Korea and has conducted a comparative opinion poll on impression of each other's country.
From 2012, Mr. Kudo has served as Japanese delegation of the Council of Councils, an international think tank network initiated by the Council on Foreign Relations. "The Asia Forum of Opinion Leaders" has also been established as a venue for open and free debate for intellectuals in Japan and Southeast Asian countries to jointly identify common challenges, and advocate solutions to them, while collaborating to bolster democracy and address challenges to democracy.

Creon Butler
Research Director, Trade, Investment and New Governance Models, and Director, Global Economy and Finance Programme, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, United Kingdam

Creon Butler leads the Global Economy and Finance Programme at Chatham House, and is director for trade, investment and new governance models. He joined the institute in 2019, since when he has written and published on a wide range of global economic policy issues, including the interaction between macroeconomic policy and climate change, sovereign debt distress, the challenge of funding global health priorities, and the long-term implications for the international economic system of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Before joining Chatham House, Creon served in the UK Cabinet Office as director for international economic affairs in the National Security Secretariat and G7/G20 'sous sherpa', advising the UK Prime Minister on global economic policy issues.

Creon first joined the Cabinet Office in 2013 as director in the European and Global Issues Secretariat and designed the UK's global Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016.
He was also the British deputy high commissioner in New Delhi from 2006 to 2009 and has served in senior positions in HM Treasury and the Bank of England.

Sunjoy Joshi
Chairman and Chief Executive, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India

Mr. Sunjoy Joshi Heads the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi as its Chairman and Chief Executive. He has over the last 10 years spearheaded the rise of the ORF as India's premier think tank and window into the world of Global Affairs.
He joined the Madhya Pradesh Cadre of the Indian Administrative Services in 1983. Took premature retirement in 2009 in order to pursue his academic interests. He has been Visiting Associate at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, London and Distinguished Visitor to the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, University of Stanford, USA. He speaks, publishes and comments on the world of technology, energy, and development, framing them in the context of global shifts and the challenges to growth and employment faced by emerging economies. Has a regular Youtube commentary on Global and Current Affairs called India's World which is also available as a podcast. Twitter: @Sunjoyj

James M. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the United States

James M. Lindsay is senior vice president, director of studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg chair at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he oversees the work of the more than six dozen fellows in CFR's David Rockefeller Studies Program　as well as CFR's eleven fellowship programs.
He has written widely on the American foreign-policymaking process and the domestic politics of American foreign policy. His latest book is The Empty Throne: America's Abdication of Global Leadership, co-authored with Ivo H. Daalder. His previous book with Ambassador Daalder, America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy, was awarded the 2003 Lionel Gelber Prize. Dr. Lindsay writes The Water's Edge blog and hosts The President's Inbox podcast.

Stefan Mair
Director, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Germany

Since October 2020, Director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and Executive Chairman of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP).
2010-2020 Member of the Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), 2007-2009 Research Director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), 1992-2007 and 2009-2010 research associate at SWP, until March 2001 head of the Middle East and Africa Research Division, 2001-2007 and 2009-2010 member of SWP's executive board.
1992 Doctorate, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich.
1989-1992 PhD scholarship at the IFO Institute for Economic Research, Munich, Developing Countries Department.

Thomas Gomart
Director, French Institute of International Relations (IFRI)

Dr. Thomas Gomart (PhD in History at Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, and EMBA at HEC) is the Director of Ifri since 2015. He has published extensively on Russia, energy and digital issues, think tanks and country risk. Among his publications: Notre intérêt national (co-directed with Thierry de Montbrial), Odile Jacob, 2017 ; L'Affolement du monde, Tallandier, 2019 (Prix Louis Marin & Prix du Livre de géopolitique) ; Guerres invisibles, Tallandier, 2021. His most recent book - Les ambitions inavouées, Tallandier - was published in January 2023. Thomas Gomart has been a member of the Strategic Review Committee on the Strategic Review of Defence and National Security 2017 (French Ministry of Armed Forces). He is a member of the scientific committee of the Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence (IHEDN) and of the editorial board of the French journals Politique étrangère, Revue des deux mondes and Etudes. He is Chevalier de l'Ordre national du mérite

Paul Samson
President, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada

Paul Samson is President of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). He previously held senior positions in the Government of Canada including assistant deputy minister-level roles with Global Affairs Canada and Finance Canada, and as associate deputy minister with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Among other positions, Paul served as Director for Egypt, Canada, and Ethiopia at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and as Canada's deputy for finance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. He was co-chair of the G20 Framework Working Group on the global economy during five different presidencies. Earlier in his career, Paul worked with Mikhail Gorbachev at Green Cross International in Geneva and held fellowships with Pacific Northwest Labs, the Peace Research Institute, Oslo and was a research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Paul completed a Doctorate and an M.A. in international relations at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, and a B.A. at the University of British Columbia. He completed post-doctoral studies in global environment assessment at Harvard University.

Rohinton P. Medhora
Distinguished fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada

Rohinton Medhora is a distinguished fellow and former president of the Centre for International Governance Innovation and Professor of Practice at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill University. His fields of expertise are international economic relations, innovation policy, development economics and governance.
Rohinton is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and is a member of the Commission on Global Economic Transformation co-chaired by Nobel economics laureates Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz.  He previously sat on The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030 and is a founding member of its successor, the Digital Transformations for Health Lab.   In 2021-22 he chaired the Ontario Workplace Recovery Advisory Committee.
Rohinton received his doctorate in economics in 1988 from the University of Toronto, where he subsequently taught. He has published extensively in professional and non-technical journals and has produced several books.

Rizal Sukma
the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta)

Dr. Rizal Sukma is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta. Previously, he was Indonesia's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Ireland and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), London, from 2016 to 2020. He joined CSIS in 1990 as a researcher and assumed the role of Executive Director in 2009 until 2015. Dr. Sukma also served as former Chairman of International Relations, Muhammadiyah Central Executive Board (2005-2015). Since receiving a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1997, he has worked extensively on such issues as Southeast Asian security, ASEAN, Indonesia's defense and foreign policy, military reform, Islam and politics, and domestic political changes in Indonesia.

Dr Sukma has served as a member of the National Committee on Strategic Defence Review at the Ministry of Defence, and as a member of the National Drafting Committee for the National Defence Bill (2000-2002) and the Armed Forces Bill (2002-2003). He was the first Indonesian to receive the Nakasone Award, in July 2005, and named one 100 Global Thinkers in 2009 by Foreign Policy magazine.

He has published three books: Security Operations in Aceh: Goals, Consequences, and Lessons (Washington, DC: East-West Centre, 2004); Islam in Indonesia's Foreign Policy (London: Routledge, 2003), and Indonesia and China: The Politics of A Troubled Relationship (London: Routledge, 1999).