Delegate Biographies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DELEGATE BIOGRAPHIES AUSTRALIA Keith Pitt MP for Hinkler and Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories Keith Pitt was elected to represent the Hinkler Electorate in the Australian Parliament in 2013. He has been a voting member on Parliamentary Joint Standing Committees for Infrastructure and Communications; and Defence Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2016, Mr Pitt became the Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister, taking responsibility for natural resource management, soils, animal welfare and water. In July 2016, he was appointed as Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. In 2019, Mr Pitt retained the seat of Hinkler in the Federal Election for his third term in Parliament. A former sugar cane farmer, he was a surf lifesaver, plays touch Aussie-rules football and enjoys fishing. Warren Snowdon MP for Lingiari and Member of Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories Warren Snowdon was elected to represent Lingiari in 2001 and was previously the MP for Northern Territory, first elected in 1987. He is currently Shadow Assistant Minister for Northern Australia, External Territories, and Indigenous Australians. His previous ministerial positions include: Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, and Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery. Prior to entering politics, Mr Snowdon was a high school teacher and university researcher at the Australian National University Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies. BELGIUM Jean-Marc Delizée House of Representatives Jean-Marc Delizée was elected to the Belgian House of Representatives in 1993 and has been re-elected seven times, most recently in 2019. He is currently Chairman of the Committee on Mobility, Public Enterprises and Federal Institutions of the House of Representatives. Mr Delizée was previously Chair of the Committee on Economic Affairs, Vice President of the House of Representatives, Secretary of State for Social Affairs and Secretary of State for the Fight Against Poverty. He is the former Mayor of Viroinval. Mélissa Hanus House of Representatives Mélissa Hanus is a member of the Belgian House of Representatives. She was elected for the first time in May 2019 and is one of the country's youngest MPs. Climate action and global warming were central themes during her campaign, so it is no surprise that she was appointed Vice-President of the Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy at the Belgian Parliament. In October 2019 Ms Hanus became the first female Local Party Leader for the Socialists in the Province of Luxembourg, a rural territory with its own challenges regarding climate change. BRAZIL Congressman Vitor Hugo Leader of the Government in the Chamber of Deputies and Deputy Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Front in Support of the Brazilian Antarctic Program Mr Vitor Hugo de Araújo Almeida, or Congressman Vitor Hugo, is an Army Reserve Officer, as Lawyer and a Federal Deputy. He is currently the Leader of the Government in the Chamber of Deputies of the Federative Republic of Brazil. He is also the Deputy Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Front in Support of the Brazilian Antarctic Program, composed of federal deputies and senators. CANADA Senator Patricia Bovey Senator for Manitoba and former Deputy-Chair of the Special Senate Committee on the Arctic Patricia Bovey, FRSA, FCMA, was appointed to the Senate of Canada in November 2016 as an Independent Senator from Manitoba, and is the first Art Historian, and museologist in the Senate. In addition to her legislative work, she served as Deputy-Chair of the Special Senate Committee on the Arctic that released the report titled: Northern Lights: A Wake-Up Call for the Future of Canada; was a member of the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee whose report Cultural Diplomacy at the Front Stage of Canada's Foreign Policy was tabled in June 2019; and was Deputy Chair of the Transport and Communications Committee. She has served as Acting Speaker of the Senate in the Chamber, and internationally, representing the Speaker in the Speaker's Summit at the G20 in Buenos Aires in 2018. Prior to her appointment she taught Cultural Policy and Art History, was director of several Canadian art galleries and published extensively on Canadian art. CHINA Mr Cheng Lifeng Member of Standing Committee of National People’s Congress and Member of Environmental and Resources Protection Committee Mr Cheng Lifeng became a member of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee and the NPC Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee in 2018. Prior to that he was Deputy Director General of the Department of Nature and Ecology Conservation of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Director General of the Department of Environmental Impact Assessment, and Director General of Nature Conservation. FRANCE Jacques Maire MP and Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee Jacques Maire was elected in 2017 and, in part due to his diplomatic background, became Vice-President of the Foreign Affairs Committee and a member of the Arctic and Antarctic Committee. In January 2017, he was appointed as Special Representative for Reconstruction and Development for the French government, supporting vulnerable countries and countries in a post-crisis context. Prior to his political career Mr Maire was a diplomat and specialist in EU affairs, helping to construct the Political Union and the Economic and Monetary Union, and latterly served as Director for Business and Global Economy for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has worked in the private sector for AXA Group and Vigeo - a global non-financial rating agency - and was a senior advisor in the energy and financial services sectors. Hubert Julien-Lafferière MP and Vice President of the Arctic and Antarctic Committee Hubert Julien-Lafferière was elected in 2017 and is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly. He chairs the French group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and is Vice-President of the Overseas Delegation. Mr Julien-Lafferière is Vice President of several study groups including: the Arctic and Antarctic Committee, Humanitarian Action, Development Cooperation and Global Health. A professor of economics, he has always specialised in the issues of development and international cooperation, as well as housing and urban policies. He has been a councillor of the city of Lyon for 21 years and is former mayor of Lyon’s 9th district. ITALY Senator Massimo Vittorio Berutti Member of the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Environmental Properties and the Land Senator Berutti became a member of the Senate of the Italian Republic in 2018, and joined the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Environmental Properties and the Land. Prior to that he was a member of the Piedmont Regional Council, the Forza Italia Chief Whip and a member of the Budget, Public Works, Industry and Environmental Committees. Senator Berutti is the former mayor of Tortona and deputy mayor of Montemarzino, and is a former cabinet member of the Mountain Community for Tourism, Culture, Agriculture and Mountain Community for Town Development and Economic Growth. Until 2004, he worked in the management control sector at Codelfa. Generoso Maraia Chamber of Deputies Generoso Maraia was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2018 and served as member of the Agriculture Committee and the Committee on Environment, Territory and Public Works. He has submitted and debated numerous motions at the Chamber of Deputies to commit the Italian Government to creating a transparent system of environmental information accessible to all citizens. Formerly, as part of the “Ariano in Movimento” association, he focussed on environmental issues including: integrated waste cycle; remediation of polluted sites; treatment and disposal of leachates; asbestos and workers suffering from asbestosis; uncontrolled wind power generation, sites of community interest and WWF Oases. Prior to his political career, Mr Maraia was a teacher specialising in supporting children with learning difficulties. NEW ZEALAND Andrew Bayly MP for Hunua Andrew Bayly was elected to Parliament as the National MP for the Hunua Electorate in 2014, and was subsequently re-elected in 2017. He is currently Opposition Spokesperson for Building and Construction, as well as Revenue, and Associate Spokesperson for Finance. Mr Bayly trained as an accountant and worked with merchant banks in New Zealand and London for 10 years. Working with his twin brother, he owned a hill country farm and an award-winning composting and recycling environmental business. Formerly an Officer in the New Zealand Territorial Army and British Parachute (TA) Regiment, Mr Bayly enjoys endurance races and mountaineering. He has also skied to both the North and South Poles and climbed four mountains in Antarctica. NORWAY Eirik Sivertsen MP for Nordland and Chair of the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region Mr Eirik Sivertsen is a Norwegian Member of Parliament representing the Labour Party and the County of Nordland. Mr Sivertsen was elected to parliament for the first time in 2009, and was re-elected in 2013 and 2017. In 2013 he was elected as Chair of the Norwegian parliament’s delegation to the Arctic Parliamentary Cooperation. Since 2014 he has also chaired the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, and was re-elected to this position at the Arctic parliamentary conference in Finland in 2018. In the Norwegian parliament he serves as Second Vice-Chair of the Committee on Local Government and Public Administration. RUSSIAN FEDERATION H.E. Andrei Kelin Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation in the United Kingdom His Excellency Andrei Kelin began his Ambassadorial posting to the United Kingdom in November 2019. Prior to that he was the Director of the Department of European Cooperation from 2015 – 2019 and Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 2011 – 2015.