The Future of the -EU Partnership

« Africa-EU: Future Relations and Continental Integration »

Bio of Panel Members

Pascal Lamy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) (2005-2013) From September 2005 to August 2013, Pascal Lamy served for two consecutive terms as General Director- of the World Trade Organization (WTO). A committed European and member of the French Socialist party, he was Chief of Staff for the President of the , Jacques Delors from 1985 to 1994. He then joined the Credit Lyonnais as CEO until 1999, before returning to as European Trade Commissioner until 2004. Mr. Lamy holds degrees from HEC School of Management, the Institut d’ Etudes Politiques (IEP) and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He currently shares his activities between the think tank Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute, the presidency of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics, the presidency of the Oxford Martin School Commission for Future Generations, his participation to the Global Ocean Commission and ONUSIDA as well as different subjects related to international affairs. He is also President of the Board of Directors of the Musiciens du Louvre of Grenoble MDLG (Orchestra of Marc Minkowski) and member of the Board of Directors of the Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company.

Obadiah Mailafia Head of Cabinet of ACP Group of States Dr. Obadiah Mailafia is a dual British and Nigerian national; an economist and policy analyst with hands-on experience in international development, banking and finance. He has a full- time position as Chef de Cabinet of the 80 member intergovernmental organisation, the African, and Pacific (ACP) Group of States based in Brussels, . In this capacity he acts as a senior advisor to the Secretary-General and serves as the head of the cabinet, coordinating of the activities of the four mainline departments of the organisation. Dr. Mailafia began his career as a university academic in before joining the Group, where he was Economist in the Planning and Budgeting Department. In this capacity he carried out several important missions for the ADB in over a dozen countries in Africa. He was a recipient of the Mamoun Beheiry Prize by the President of the ADB for outstanding contributions to the ADB’s strategic management turnaround.

Dr. Mailafia served for several years as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of (CBN) with responsibility for , foreign exchange operations, investment management, research, statistics, and cooperation with international institutions. In this capacity he was also a member of the Board of Directors and member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). After leaving the Central Bank, he was appointed Special Adviser to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Economic and Policy Matters

Dr. Mailafia has also been UNDP Technical Adviser to the Government of Nigeria, in which capacity he was responsible for designing a new financing framework for the agricultural sector. Dr. Mailafia is the Founder/Chairman of the Centre for Policy and Economic Research (CEPER), an independent macroeconomic policy think tank.

Obadiah Mailafia is B.Sc. Social Sciences (Political Science, and ) honours graduate of , , Nigeria. He is also an Economics graduate of the former Institut international d’administration publique of Paris, an institution that has now been integrated with the École nationale d’administration (ENA) based in Strasbourg, . Dr. Mailafia went to Oriel College, University of Oxford on a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Scholarship, where he completed a DPhil specialising in International Economic Relations and Development in 1995. Dr. Mailafia has several publications to his name, notable among them his book, Europe and Economic Reform in Africa (Routledge 1997). His current research interests are in the areas of regional monetary integration, international monetary cooperation, global governance reform, international trade (ACP/WTO) and the dialogue of civilisations in international relations. Dr. Mailafia is also a noted public intellectual and newspaper columnist. In his spare time Dr. Mailafia enjoys music, tennis, literature, African wildlife and the spirituality of the Early Church Fathers.

H. E. Dr. Brave Ndisale Ambassador of Malawi to the EU Dr. Brave Ndisale is currently the Ambassador of the Republic of Malawi to Belgium, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland, Monaco and the European Communities. Prior to this appointment she was program leader at the International Food Policy research Institute (IFPRI), head of the Rural Economy

2

Division in the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture at the Commission of the African Union, Policy Officer and consultant at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the Regional Office for Africa and Research Economist at the Ministry of Agriculture (Malawi Government). Dr. Ndisale received her PhD in Agriculture and Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. San Bilal Head of Economic Governance, Trade & Regional Integration Programmes Dr. Sanoussi Bilal, a Swiss national, is the Head of the Economic Governance Programme at the European Centre for Development Policy Management in Maastricht and Brussels. With a background in economics and international relations, Master from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, international economics and political economy of trade (PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK). Before joining ECDPM, he worked at the University of Birmingham, the University of Geneva, the European Institute of Public Administration (NL), and the Overseas Development Institute (UK). His expertise relates mainly to economic and trade governance issues for inclusive growth, regional integration processes and capacity development, with a focus on Africa and the ACP-EU relations (including economic partnership agreements). His current activities include projects on extractive sector and private sector for development, domestic resources mobilization, the impact of emerging players on Africa-Europe relations and on developing regional markets, notably in agriculture. He is the author of numerous publications, as well as the founding editor of monthly magazine Trade Negotiations Insights and its successor magazine GREAT Insights dedicated to Governance, Regional integration, Agriculture and Trade matters. Dr. Bilal is also a Fellow of the West African Institute.

3