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Official Letter

2016 Agenda

Speakers

2015 Agenda
Summit Overview

Contact

Conference Chair

Mr Charles N. Kahuthu (Conference Chair)
Secretary to the Board, CEO and Regional Coordinator
East Africa Chambers of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (EACCIA)

Mr. Charles Kahuthu is the Secretary to the Board, CEO and Regional Coordinator of the East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (EACCIA). Before then he was Deputy CEO of KNCCI and also coordinated the functions of Membership and Branch Network Development, as well as all external partnerships between the Chamber and other stakeholders, including development partners. He was particularly very involved in regional integration issues having contributed to the two key protocols that are guiding the integration process of East Africa, namely; the Customs Union Protocol and the Common Market Protocol. Mr Kahuthu is a Private Sector Development Specialist, as well as public-private sector partnerships building specialist, providing a wide range of business management and socio-economic development consultancy services to Governments, private sector institutions, development agencies and non-governmental organizations, among others. He is an experienced policy analyst and has been a member of many task forces facilitating the review of public policy in recent years. He has carried out very many consulting assignments in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Latin America and France. He is extremely conversant with the planning, preparation and implementation of development programmes and projects.

Keynote Speakers

H.E. Dr. Elham M. A. Ibrahim
Commissioner for Infrastructure & Energy
African Union Commission (AUC)

Over 33 years, Dr. Ibrahim has served in the academic research, electrical energy production & interconnection, energy strategies and policies, international cooperation, technical agreements and protocols, energy planning studies, computer aided design and management of energy projects, renewable energy including hydropower. She has held various posts among which: First Under Secretary of State, Under Secretary of State for International cooperation in the Ministry of Electricity and Energy in Egypt, General Manager for training and promotion, Director of photovoltaic, research and testing department in the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA); in Cairo; Associate professor at the Girl’s Faculty in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Senior Engineer at the High Dam Power Station, Aswan, and Researcher at the National Research Center, Cairo. In 28 April 2008 she was elected and appointed for the post of The Commissioner of Infrastructure & Energy, in the African Union Commission; subsequently re-elected for the same post in July 2012.

Raffaello Cervigni
Lead Environmental Economist
The World Bank

Raffaello Cervigni is a lead environmental economist with the Africa Region of the World Bank. He holds master’s and PhD degrees in Economics from Oxford University and University College London. He has 20 years of professional experience in programs, projects, and research financed by the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility, the European Union, and the Government of Italy in a variety of sectors. He is currently the World Bank’s regional coordinator for climate change in the Africa Region, after serving for about three years in a similar role for the Middle East and North Africa Region. He is the author or co-author of more than 40 technical papers and publications, including books, book chapters, and articles in academic journals.

Dr. Fatima Denton
Director of Special Initiatives Division
UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

Ms. Denton holds a PhD in political science and development studies from Birmingham University in the UK. Ms. Denton directs and manages the Special Initiatives Division of ECA which campuses the African Climate Policy Center, The African Mineral Development Center, the Green Economy and Natural Resources Section and New technology and Innovation section. She is a lead author for the IPCC and a member of several scientific committees on the interface between climate change and development. Fatima has also written widely on climate change adaptation and resilience; energy poverty, efficiency and security and; gender and development.

Speakers

Dr. Henning Wuester (Panel Chair)
Director,Knowledge, Policy and Finance
IRENA

Henning Wuester is currently Director of Knowledge, Policy, and Finance Centre at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). From 2011 to early 2014, Dr. Wuester was working for the Green Climate Fund (GCF). He was the Secretary to the Transitional Committee that drafted the Governing Instrument for the GCF in 2011, heading a Technical Support Unit with senior staff from international financial institutions and UN agencies. Subsequently, he was the Senior Manager at the Interim Secretariat of the GCF, in charge of supporting the GCF Board, developing the Fund’s business model framework, setting up the Fund’s administrative policies and procedures and negotiating the headquarters agreement of the GCF with the Republic of Korea. From 2003 to 2010, Dr. Wuester was Special Adviser to the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He was responsible for the management of the Executive Office, for overall internal policy coordination processes within the UNFCCC secretariat, liaison with the United Nations Secretary-General, and for cooperation with other organizations, in particular UN system entities. Before joining the UNFCCC from 1991 to 2003, Mr. Wuester was at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, where he performed various functions in the secretariat of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. He studied economics and international law at Munich University (final degree in 1986) and obtained his PhD in economics there in 1990.

Timothy Afful-Koomson
Principal Green Growth Officer
African Development Bank (AfDB)

Timothy Afful-Koomson is a Principal Green Growth Officer with the African Development Bank (AfDB). Before joining the AfDB, Timothy served as a Senior Fellow at the United Nations University – Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA). Prior to UNU-INRA, Timothy spent over 12 years in the private sector working with companies such as Merrill Lynch and Navigant Consulting and was involved in structuring, executing and managing sustainable investment transactions particularly in energy and timberland investments totalling over US$ 50 billion. Timothy graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University with a PhD in International Trade and Investment.

Mr. Gaku Saito
Representative - Ethiopia
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

Mr. Saito is in charge of Infrastructure Development at JICA's office in Ethiopia. When based at JICA HQ, he is in charge of power sector and geothermal development in African countries including Tanzania, Malawi and Rwanda.

John Moran
Senior Advisor to the OPIC President and CEO
U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)

John Moran is currently a Senior Advisor to OPIC’s President and CEO with a specific focus on risk mitigation and political risk instruments. Prior to assuming this role in January 2016, he was OPIC’s Vice President of Insurance for four years. Previously, he had been OPIC’s Chief of Staff and Vice President for Administrative Operations (2009-2010) and was the agency's Managing Director in charge of Investment Development and Coordination (2011-12). He also served as OPIC’s regional representative for Southeast Europe, based in Croatia from 2000 to 2003. Before joining OPIC, Mr. Moran was the U.S. Treasury Department’s Deputy Director for the Office for Central and Southeastern Europe, working on issues relating to the Balkans. He earlier served with USAID as its Director of Credit and Investment (1996-1998), and as its Senior Counselor on Investment Funds in Europe and the New Independent States (1993-1996).

Hon. Ibrahim Mansaray
Minister
Ministry of Transport and Aviation; Sierra Leone

Samuel Bwalya
Country Director - Ethiopia
UN Development Programme (UNDP) Ethiopia

Phera Sidwell Ramoeli
Senior Prog. Officer - Transboundary Water
SADC Secretariat

Mr. Phera S. Ramoeli is currently a Senior Programmme Officer – Tranboundary Water, responsible for the coordination and facilitation of the implementation of the SADC Program of Action in Water as contained in the SADC Regional Strategic Action Plan (RSAP). He has been working in the water sector for at least 24 years at technical and management levels. Over 20 years his work in the water sector was on Transboundary Water Resources management at the SADC Level. Mr. Ramoeli has a Masters Degree in Aquatic Resources Management, A Post Graduate Diploma in Operational Hydrology and BSc in Biology and Chemistry.

Mrs. Worknesh Mekonnen Gonet
Director and Representative to the AU
UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Worknesh Mekonnen Gonet is an Ethiopian National who joined UNOPS ETOH as Director and Representative to the AU in June 2015. She comes to UNOPS with over 20 years of work experience mostly working in development sector with International Non-Governmental Organizations. Worknesh worked with well branded international large Non-Profit organizations such as Save the Children, World Vision and ActionAid International. In her recent past roles she was Deputy National Director for World Vision Ethiopia responsible for the oversight of the operation of a programme with over USD100M annual funding portfolio. With ActionAid she supported eleven East and Southern Africa country operations as Regional Programme Coordinator and with Save the Children as Director, Management Services and Programme Management. Worknesh has an MBA from the University of Liverpool.

Christian Yoka
Regional Director
Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Christian Yoka is a development professional who has spent the last 15 years with the French Development Agency (AFD), initially in Paris as a lawyer at the Risk department. He then moved to the African Department of this financial institution which has invested over US$ 3bn in Sub Saharan Africa last year alone. Christian is currently serving as the Regional Director for the French Development Agency (AFD) covering Ethiopian, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea. Prior to that, he was Country Director for AFD in DRC from 2009-2013. He has been a key contributor to the Capital Access Index: Emerging Africa article by the Milken Institute. Christian graduated from La Sorbonne University in Business and Tax Law. He also holds an LLM in International banking from Boston University and is fluent in both French and English.

Atef Marzouk
Acting Head of Energy
African Union Commission (AUC)

Atef Marzouk, an Egyptian national, holds a Masters degree in New and Renewable Energy Faculty of Engineering from Cairo University. Through a career that spans more than 20 years, Mr. Marzouk has served in electrical energy production using renewable energies specializing in wind turbines, energy strategies and policies, international cooperation, and held various posts among which include Manager of the Zafaran; the biggest wind farm in the Middle East and North Africa with the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA); Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy; and Senior Engineer at the Haurgahada demonstration wind farm. In August 2007 he was appointed as Senior Policy Officer in charge of Renewable Energy within the Department of Infrastructure & Energy of the African Union Commission (AUC). In November 2015 he was reappointed as the Acting Head of Energy Division.

Hon. Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdirahman
Minister
Ministry of Energy & Water Resources; Somalia

Hon. Tsitsi Veronica Muzenda
Deputy Minister
Ministry of Energy & Power Development; Zimbabwe

Mr. Simon D'ujanga
Minister of State for energy
Ministry of Energy & Mineral Development; Uganda

Claude Koutoua
President
African Electrotechnical Standardization Committee (AFSEC)

Claude Koutoua is a qualified engineer gaining accreditations from the Institut National Polytechnique of Grenoble INPG – GRENOBLE and the Ecole Supérieure d'Electricité SUPELEC- Paris. Since 2005, Mr. Koutoua has held the position of Director of Quality, Safety and Environment at the Ivorian Electricity Company, CIE. In 2008, he was elected as the First President of the African Electrotechnical Standardization Commission (AFSEC) during its inaugural General Assembly, and in 2014 was re-elected for a further term of office. Mr. Koutoua has been a prime mover in developing the structures for quality and standardization, at a national level in Côte d’Ivoire, regionally across West Africa, and also at a continental level.

Andrew Losos
Transport Specialist
The World Bank

Andrew is a specialist in sustainable transportation at the World Bank. He holds a master’s in environmental studies from York University and a bachelor’s of engineering from the University of Toronto. He has worked in transport for over twenty years, environment for fifteen, and climate change for ten. For the past seven years he has managed World Bank investment operations and research products in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to joining the bank he worked to tackle the sustainability challenges of transport in a variety of roles in the public and private sectors in Canada and abroad, and had a past career as a naval officer.

Hon. Nandcoomar Bodha
Minister
Ministry of Public Infrastructure & Land Transport, Mauritius

Hon. Desalegn Ambaw Belete
Minister of State
Ministry of Transport; Ethiopia

Prof.Dr. Abebe Dinku
school of civil and environmental enginering
Addis Ababa University

Antonio Capone
Infrastructure Leader
European Union Delegation in Ethiopia

Prof. Kenneth Strzepek

Massachusetts Institute of Technology & Industrial Economics Inc.

Dr. Brent Boehlert

Industrial Economics Inc.

Bruce Hewitson

University of Cape Town

Evans Kaseke

Zambezi River Basin Commission

Guillaume Meyssonnier
Energy and Transport Project Manager
Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Hon. Jean Bosco Ntunzwenimana
Minister
Ministry of Transport, Public Works & Equipment; Burundi

Hon. Pa Ousman Jarju
Minister
Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Water, Wildlife & Fisheries, The Gambia

Ndonse Beatrice
Conseillère/Adviser
Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock, Burundi

Sadya Ndoko
Programme Officer - Adaptation Programme
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Sadya Ndoko is a Programme Officer in the Adaptation Programme of the UN Climate Change Secretariat. She provides technical support to the Adaptation Committee, the principal body under the Climate Change Convention providing authoritative advice and guidance on adaptation. Earlier, she worked on matters relating to least developed countries (LDCs) under the Convention, and provided technical advice to the Least Developed Countries Expert Group on the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs), the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and the LDC work programme. Prior to joining the Secretariat, Sadya was project coordinator of large and small scale urban rehabilitation projects in the Caribbean. She managed the feasibility studies, preparation and implementation of projects that included the construction of social housing, water supply and sanitation work, restoration of part of the built environment, and installation of recreation areas.

Eng. Sahli Ouafa
Program Officer in Charge of Rural Development and NRM
Community of Sahel Saharan States (CEN-SAD)

Wafa Essahli has an experience of almost thirty years in environmental information system for decision-making support, particularly in the context of Rio-Conventions implementation processes. In addition to developing, structuring, management and dissemination of geo-referenced data, her experience covers mainstreaming of environmental issues in socio-economic development strategies and programs, science and development interface, building capacity, training, moderation and organizing scientific and technical events. She was (1988-1994) a member of the team responsible for the establishment of the National Remote Sensing Centre of Tunisia where she put out several pilot projects on the use of space images and geographic information systems for natural resources management. In January 2000, she started an international career within the Sahara and Sahel Observatory and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States before joining the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention of Desertification to be responsible for financing strategies RCU for Africa. Since January 2014, she is an independent consultant with assignments including the UNCCD Secretariat, FAO, the World Bank and the IFDD.

Hon. Motuma Mekasa
Minister
Ministry of Water and Energy, Ethiopia

H.E. Mohamed Abdel Atty Khalil
Minister
Ministry of Water Resources & Irrigation; Egypt

H.E. Mohamed Abdel Atty Khalil is the Minister of Water Resources & Irrigation, Government of the Republic of Egypt. Born in 1963, he has graduated from Cairo University (1986), University of Manchester, England (1998), Royal University of Technology, Sweden (2002), and Ain Shams University, Cairo (2004). Previously, H.E. Mohamed Abdel Atty Khalil has held senior positions at the Ministry of Irrigation, Technical Regional Office of Eastern Nile, National Bank of Egypt, whilst also being Chairman of the Nile Water Sector, consulting across the United Nations & World Bank, and giving formal lectures at a number of Universities and Institutions.

Mr. Simon Young
Program director (CEO)
African Risk Capacity Insurance Company Ltd

Dr Simon Young is a specialist in disaster and climate risk management, risk transfer and financing. He helped launch the first ever multi-national insurance pool, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility in 2006, and also worked on the Pacific Islands equivalent. He is now running the first sovereign risk pool in Africa as CEO of ARC Ltd.

Aage Jorgensen
Country Program Manager
Nordic Development Fund (NDF)

Aboubakari Babamousa
Director,Department of Infrastructure & Energy
African Union Commission (AUC)

Mr. Aboubakari Baba-Moussa has been the Director of Infrastructure and Energy at the African Union Commission since 2004. He is a Civil Engineer of Roads and Bridges and holds a Master’s Degree in Transport Infrastructure from l’Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, and certificate of Transport Economics. Mr. Baba-Moussa has over 30 years professional experience in the infrastructure sector, during which he has held various important positions at the national, sub-regional and continental level. He was involved in the establishment/implementation of several successful sectorial policies and programs of regional and continental infrastructure such as the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the Africa-Europe Infrastructure Partnership, Africa-Europe i Energy Partnership, Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF), and the Common Action Programme for Infrastructure Transport (Pacit UEMOA). He has also contributed to various other initiatives such as the creation and establishment of the Secretariat of Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA), the institutional transformation of the Secretariat of NEPAD in NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, the strengthening of Infrastructure Projects Preparation Facility NEPAD (NEPAD-IPPF) and the organization of conferences of African Ministers in charge of infrastructure and those of African and European Ministers in charge of energy and cooperation.