CHAMA CHA MAPINDUZI -- TEXAS: Key Speakers of the plenary session

Jakaya Kikwete, President, United Republic of Tanzania

President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete was inaugurated on December 21st, 2005 as the Fourth President of the United Republic of Tanzania. In his more than 30 years of public service, President Kikwete led key portfolios in successive governments including Minister for Finance and Minister for Water, Energy and Mineral Resources. He was elected Member of Parliament for 15 consecutive years, from 1990 to 2005. In January 31, 2008, President Kikwete was elected by Heads of States and Government of Africa to be the Chairman of the African Union (AU) for 2008.

Asha-Rose Migiro, is the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Before that, she served as Tanzania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Dr. Migiro also pursued a career in academia, serving as a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Dar-es-Salaam. She has a Master of Laws from the University of Dar-es-Salaam and a Doctorate in law from the University of Konstanz in Germany. Abdoulaye Diop, Finance Minister, Senegal. Mr. Abdoulaye Diop has served in the government of Senegal since May 2000 and as Minister of Economy and Finance since May 2001. Prior to his appointment in the government, Mr. Diop served in the Public Accounting Office and in the Treasury. He has also represented Senegal in many international financial institutions, including the World Bank, the IMF, and the African Development Bank Akere Muna, AU Civil Society Advisory Panel. Mr. Akere Muna is the Presiding Officer of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union. A lawyer by training, he has previously held the post of President of Transparency International Cameroon, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Transparency International. Previously, he was president of the Pan-African Lawyers' Union. Benno Ndulu, Governor, Bank of Tanzania. Prior to that, he served as an Advisor to the Vice President, African Region of the World Bank and as the Manager of Partnerships Group. He is best known for his involvement in setting up one of the most effective research and training networks in Africa.Chukwuma C. Soludo, Central Bank Governor, Nigeria. He previously served as the Economic Adviser to President Obasanjo and was the Founding Director of the African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu, Nigeria. Before joining government he was Professor of Economics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Professor Soludo’s research spans a wide set of topics in African development, with a focus on macroeconomic management, monetary/financial policies and international trade. Professor Soludo has been appointed Member of the Chief Economist Advisory Council of the World Bank and recently has been also appointed by the President of the UN General Assembly as a member of the 10-man Commission of Experts on the Reform of the International Monetary and Financial System.Donald Kaberuka is the 7th President of the African Development Bank. He served as Rwanda’s Finance and Economic Planning Minister from 1997 to 2005, and played a major role in leading the economic team responsible for the successful reconstruction of the country in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. Since his election at the Bank, Dr. Kaberuka has carried out major reforms to refocus the African Development Bank’s agenda on regional economic integration, private sector, infrastructure, governance, and a special initiative for post conflict countries and fragile states. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn assumed office as the tenth Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund on November 1, 2007. Upon being selected by the IMF's Board of Executive Directors, Mr. Strauss-Kahn indicated that he will press ahead with reform of the 185-member country institution that helps oversee the global economy.

Festus Mogae, Former President of Botswana. Mr. Festus G. Mogae was president of Botswana from 31st March 1998 to 31st March 2008. He served in Washington, DC as Alternate and the Executive Director, International Monetary Fund for Anglophone Africa from 1976 to 1980. He was Governor of the Bank of Botswana from 1980 to 1981. From 1982 to 1989 he was Permanent Secretary to the President, Secretary to the Cabinet and Supervisor of Elections. Mr. Mogae joined politics in 1989 and was appointed Minister of Finance and Development Planning and became Vice President in 1992. Goodall Gondwe, Finance Minister, Malawi . Mr. Goodall Edward Gondwe has served in the Government of Malawi since 2002 and as Minister of Finance since 2004. Previously he was director of Africa Department at the International Monetary Fund, and Vice President of the African Development BankJeffrey Sachs, Columbia University. Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute and Professor of Sustainable Development and Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is also Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed goals to reduce extreme poverty, disease, and hunger by the year 2015. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the UN Millennium Project and Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Sachs is also President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty. Kofi Annan, President of Global Humanitarian Forum, UN Secretary-General (1997-2007) Kofi A. Annan of Ghana, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, served from 1997 to 2006 and was the first to emerge from the ranks of United Nations staff. Mr. Annan was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize for Peace jointly with the United Nations. Linah Mohohlo, Governor Central Bank of Botswana
Ms. Linah Mohohlo has been the Governor of the Bank of Botswana since 1999 following a 23-year career with the Bank and, in her capacity as Governor of the IMF for Botswana, she has been a member of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) representing the Africa Group 1 Constituency.
Manuel Chang, Finance Minister, Mozambique. Mr. Manuel Chang was appointed Minister of Finance of Mozambique in February 2005. Previous posts include: Vice Minister of Planning and Finance; National Director of the Treasury; and National Director of Budget. He has served as the Chairman of the General Assembly of the Commercial Bank of Mozambique and the Chairman of the Auditor Council of the Bank of Mozambique.
Mo Ibrahim, Founder of Mo Ibrahim Foundation Dr. Mo Ibrahim is a global expert in mobile communications and founding chairman of Satya Capital, an investment company focused on opportunities in Africa. Sudanese by birth, Dr Ibrahim is the founder and former chairman of Celtel International, one of Africa’s most successful companies. In 2006 he set up the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to support great African leadership. The Foundation focuses on two major new initiatives to stimulate debate around, and improve the quality of, governance in Africa.
Michael Joseph is the CEO of Safaricom Limited and has been in this position since July 2000 when the company was re-launched as a joint-venture with Telkom Kenya. Since the re-launch of Safaricom in October 2000 he has guided the company from a subscriber base of fewer than 20,000 to 12,935,861 as of 11th Jan 2009, including the launch of many award winning innovative products and services over the past 8 years. Today Safaricom is one of the leading companies in East Africa and is the most profitable company in the region.Naushad.N Merali, Chairman & CEO of the Sameer Group is one of Kenya’s leading industrialists. The Sameer Group is a conglomerate of companies with major investments and successful operating organizations in all-key sectors of the economy. The Group has been at the very heart of Kenya's industrial and commercial development for over thirty years and continues to expand its business throughout the East African region.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is presently a Managing Director of the World Bank. From September 2006 to November 2007, she was Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Brookings Institution. From June to August 2006, she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, overseeing Nigeria’s External Relations and from July 2003 to June 2006 she served as Minister of Finance and Economy of Nigeria and Head of Nigeria's much acclaimed Presidential Economic team responsible for implementing a comprehensive home grown economic reform program. Previously, she pursued a 21-year career as a development economist at the World Bank, where she held the post of Vice President and Corporate Secretary.
Nemat Shafik, Permanent Secretary, Department for International Development, UK Nemat (Minouche) Shafik was appointed in March 2008 as Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development which is responsible for leading the British government’s fight against world poverty. She is responsible for development programmes and policy work on the United Nations system, the international financial institutions, Europe, country assistance, civil society, trade, conflict prevention, and climate change. Prior to this, she was Director General, Country Programmes in DFID where she was responsible for all of the UK’s aid to countries delivered through 1800 staff in 67 offices around the world.Paul Collier is Professor of Economics, Oxford University Economics Department and Director of the Center for the Study of African Economies. His academic work focuses on the causes and consequences of civil war; the effects of aid; and the problems of democracy in low-income and natural-resource-rich societies. Mr. Collier's policy work has included a post as senior adviser to Blair’s Commission on Africa, where his work covers a wide range of macroeconomic, microeconomic and political economy topics concerned with Africa. Peter Eigen, Chairman, EITI Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen is a lawyer by training. He has worked in economic development for 25 years, mainly as a World Bank manager of programs in Africa and Latin America. In 1993 Eigen founded Transparency International (TI), a non-governmental organization promoting transparency and accountability in international development. In 2005, Eigen chaired the International Advisory Group of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and became Chair of EITI in 2006 Salaheddine Mezouar, Finance Minister, Morocco Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar was named Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance in 2007. Previously he held the post of Minister of Industry and Trade and is the former president of the Moroccan Association of Textile and Clothing Manufacturers. He has held positions in both the public and private sector in Morocco. Trevor Manuel, Finance Minister, South Africa Mr. Trevor Manuel was elected a Member of Parliament in South Africa's first democratic elections, and in May 1994, he was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry. He was appointed Minister of Finance in April 1996. In his capacity as Minister of Finance, Mr. Manuel serves as a Governor on the Board of the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank Group and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, and is also Chairman of the World Bank Development Committee.
Valentine Rugwabiza is the Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization. In this role, which she took up in October 2005, her responsibility covers development issues and policies generally; trade policy review; trade facilitation, and training and technical cooperation. She is also responsible for the WTO work program on Aid for Trade. Prior to her current post, Mrs. Sendanyoye Rugwabiza served for three years simultaneously as Rwanda's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Head of Delegation to the WTO and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Switzerland.