H.E. Michael A.S. Adhin
Vice-President of Suriname

A member of the National Democratic Party, H.E. Mr. Michael Adhin has been the Vice President of Suriname since 2015, the youngest ever Vice President of the country. A former education minister, Adhin holds a degree in information technology and was a professor at the Anton de Kom University of Suriname. He enjoys music and yoga.

Hon. Mr. Ryszard Czarnecki
Vice President of the European Parliament, European Parliament

Hon. Mr Ryszard Czarnecki is the Vice-President of the European Parliament responsible for Eastern Policy and the Eastern Partnership. He has held multiple ministerial portfolios and has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2004.

Hon. Dr. Oyunkhorol Dulamsuren
Minister of Environment, Green Development and Tourism of Mongolia

HRH Sheikh Nahyan Bin
Mubarak Al Nahyan
Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, U.A.E.

H.E. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mabarak Al Nahyan is the UAE Minister of Culture, Youth, and Community Development. He is the Chancellor of the UAE University, of the Higher Colleges of Technology, and of Zayed University. H.E. Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mabarak Al Nahyan has significant business and investment interests and supports many charitable institutions. He has received many honors, awards at local, regional and international level. H.E. Sheikh Nahyan completed his High School studies at the Millfield School, UK, and thereafter attended Magdalen College, Oxford University.
 

H.E. Mr. Jigmi Yoser Thinley
Former Prime Minister of Bhutan

Mr. Jigmi Y Thinley was the Prime Minister of the first democratically elected government of Bhutan during the period 2008 – 2013. Earlier, he served as his country’s minister of culture, foreign minister and as ambassador to the UN and several European countries.

H.E. Dominique de Villepin
Former Prime Minister of France

Mr. de Villepin was Prime Minister of France from 2005 to 2007. Since 2008, he has set up a firm to accompany the strategies for transnational investments and activities particularly in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He has written numerous books of poetry and fiction a well as essays on history, international relations and art, in particular about Napoleon and about the French-Chinese painter Zao Wou Ki.

Prof. Vytautas Landsbergis
Former Prime Minister of Lithuainia

Before being elected to the European Parliament in 2004, Mr. Landsbergis served as Observer to the body (2003–2004). He was the President of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (1990-1992) and (1996–2000) and represented Lithuania in the USSR People’s Deputies Congress from March 1989 until Lithuania became independent in 1990. In 1988, he was among the initiators of the Lithuanian Reform Movement “Sajudis” striving to liberate Lithuania from Soviet occupation. He was Professor of Music History at the Lithuanian Academy of Music from 1978 to 1990. Mr. Landsbergis holds an Honorary Doctorate from Loyola University (1991), Weber State University (1992), Helsinki University, Sorbonne University (2001).

H.E. Mr. Joaquim Alberto Chissano
Former President of Mozambique

As President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano devoted 40 years of his life to carving a stable, independent Mozambique from a former Portuguese colonial backwater. Chissano is responsible for Mozambique's foreign policy of political nonalignment. An articulate leader who is fluent in Portuguese, English, French, and Swahili, Chissano maintains a deliberately understated profile. He piloted Mozambique through the transition from a Communist to a capitalist ideology, won his country's first and second multiparty elections, and made history by deciding not to run for his final term in office.

Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo
Former President of Nigeria

Hon. Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo is a former Nigerian Army General and former President of Nigeria. He also served as Chairperson of the African Union. He was the first military ruler in Africa to hand over power to a civilian government and sought to establish a democratic system. He has also held various positions in the United Nations and other organizations.

Mr. Obasanjo attended Baptist Boys’ High School in Abeokuta, in southwest Nigeria, and later worked as a teacher. Unable to afford college, he joined the army in 1958 and received officer training in England. Obasanjo rose quickly through the army ranks to become a General.

Hon. Naheed Farid
Member of Parliament, Afghanistan

Hon. Ms. Naheed Farid is a Member of Parliament, Afghanistan. She was elected at the age of 27, becoming one of the youngest elected members in the nation’s history.

Ms. Farid’s focus has been to engage Afghan youth and women in the nation’s political process. Prior to running for Parliament, she was involved in the rebuilding of her nation. She has founded and led various NGOs assisting women, children and engaging in rural community development amongst others. She has advocated for the reduction of gender-based violence and human rights violations against women, and for expanded access to education and employment for women.

Ms. Sarah Claerhout
Member of Parliament, Belgium - Chair Belgium Indian Relation

Hon. Dr. Sarah Claerhout is a Member of Parliament, Belgium since 2014. In February 2013 she became president of Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) Ghent. She obtained a PhD in Comparative Science of Cultures at the Ghent University and was an active member of the board of directors and executive committee of Ghent University.

Prof. Dr. Petra De Sutter
Senator, Government of Belgium

Dr. Petra de Sutter is Member of Belgian Parliament (Senate) for the Flemish Green party (committee of institutional affairs) and Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (committee of social affairs, committee of migration and refugees). She is also a Board member of the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development.

Mr. Jo Leinen
Member of the European Parliament President European Movement

Since July 1999 Mr. Leinen has been a Member of the European Parliament. He was a Member of the Convention for the Elaboration of a Charter of Fundamental Rights for the EU. From 2004 to 2009 he was President of the Constitutional Affairs Committee and from 2009 to 2011 he chaired the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. He is a full member in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and a substitute member of the Committee for Foreign Affairs and of the EP’s Working Group on EU-UN relations. He is also a full member of the Delegation for the relations with India and a substitute in the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

Hon. Mr. Frank Heinrich
Member of Parliament, Germany

Hon. Mr. Frank Heinrich is a Member of the German Bundestag, focusing on issues of human rights, humanitarian aid, and economic cooperation and development. His special interest areas lay in the fields of water as a human right, Africa, children’s rights, religious freedom, human trafficking and humanitarian aid, torture, death penalty and disappearance of people. Mr. Heinrich is a trained theologian and social worker, and previously worked as a Salvation-Army officer and head of the Salvation-Army in Chemnitz.

Hon. Mr. Yonadam Kanna
Member of the Iraqi National Assembly

A member of the Iraqi Governing Council since 2003, Hon. Mr. Yonadam Kanna is a Member of the Iraqi National Assembly, and is the Secretary General of the Assyrian Democratic Movement. He served in the Kurdistan administration in Iraq, first in its Regional Assembly, then as Minister for Public Works. He was elected to the National Assembly of Iraq as head of the Al Rafideen National List in the January and December 2005 elections.

Hon. Ms. Neena Gill
Member of European Parliament, West Midlands, United Kingdom

Ms. Neena Gill is Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands, UK. She is a member of the Committee for Economic and Monetary Affairs, and a substitute member for the Committee of Foreign Affairs. Ms Gill is also First Vice-President to the Delegation for Relations with India, and a member of the Delegation to the US. She previously worked as the Vice-President for Corporate Affairs at SAS and was CEO of two housing organisations. She has a degree in Social Sciences from the London Business School, and a post-graduate qualification from the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Mr. Nirj Deva
Member of European Parliament; Board Member, World Forum for Ethics in Business; Belgium / United Kingdom

Nirj Deva is the first person in history to be born in one continent, elected to Parliament in another, and then elected to represent that country as a member of a multi-national Parliament (the European Parliament). In 1992 he was elected to the United Kingdom Parliament, as the Conservative Member for Brentford and Isleworth. Appointed Vice President of the Development Committee in 2009, he remains a Member of the South Asia Delegation and of the Subcommittee on Human Rights. His phenomenal international development work led to his nomination as Secretary General of the UN to succeed Kofi Annan in 2006.

Hon Mr. Shailesh Lakhman Vara
Member of Parliament, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Mr. Shailesh is a Member of Parliament and is the UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions,. He serves as Justice Minister and a Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions in the UK Government. Mr. Shailesh has a long history of public service, previously serving as the Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and Government Whip. Mr. Vara was educated at Brunel University and qualified as a solicitor, practicing in the City of London prior to being elected to Parliament. He was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Indian Government in recognition of his work in the field of public service and promoting ties between India and the UK.

H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser
UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations

Is a Qatari diplomat and the former permanent representative of Qatar to the United Nations, appointed on 11 September 1998.

Prior to this office at the United Nations, Al-Nasser had served as the ambassador to Jordan from 1993.He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1971 and became Attaché at the embassy of Qatar in Beirut, Lebanon and was in office until 1974, when he became a member of Qatar's delegation to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. In 1986 he was appointed minister to Qatar's permanent mission to the United Nations. In June 2011 he was elected to serve as President of the General Assembly.

Bishop Gunnar Stalsett
Former Bishop of Oslo, Norway

Gunnar Johan Stålsett is a Norwegian theologican and politician. He has served as leader of the Center Party, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation and in the Church of Norway as the Bishop Emeritus of Oslo. He also taught at University of Oslo and was a member of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Durley
Pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church, USA