Viscount Etienne Davignon
Viscount Etienne Davignon is Vice-Chairman of GDF Suez, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Brussels Airlines and Chairman of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He is also Chairman of the Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) and a member of the board of the Royal Sporting Club d'Anderlecht. In 1959, Davignon joined the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was Head of Cabinet for Ministers Spaak (Socialist) and Harmel (Christian-Democrat). During his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was directly involved with Belgium's policies in Africa, the independence of Ruanda and Burundi and the solution to the Belgian and Zaïre conflict. He was also a key figure behind the report on the future of the Atlantic Alliance (Harmel report) and he presided the committee which prepared the first proposals regarding political co-operation between EEC members (Davignon report) in 1974-1975. Following the oil crisis in 1973, Davignon chaired the International Conference which established an oil sharing treaty. From 1974 to 1977, he was the first President of the International Energy Agency , which had been created in 1974. After leaving the civil service in 1977, Davignon was appointed Vice President of the European Commission in charge of industry, research and energy where he stayed until 1984. During this period he was active in the restructuring of European industry (steel, textiles, synthetic fibres) and promoting new research co-operative ventures in Information Technology and Telecommunication (Esprit, Race). He negotiated key agreements with the US, Japan and China. In the beginning of 1985 he joined Société Générale de Belgique, Belgium's leading holding company of which he became Chairman on April 11, 1989 and Vice-Chairman on February 28, 2001. Since October 31, 2003 he has served as Vice-Chairman of Suez-Tractebel.
Robert Cox is a former Senior Advisor to the European Community’s Humanitarian Office (ECHO), and former Commission Representative to Turkey.
Robert Manchin is Chairman and Managing Director of Gallup Europe.
Erika Mann is a Senior Fellow for the US American Atlantic Council and was a Member of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade.
Stefano Micossi is Director General of ASSONIME, and was formerly Director General for Industry in the European Commission.
Lord (John) Monks is a Special Adviser to the President of the European Commission. He was previously Secretary General of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
Riccardo Perissich was formerly Director General for Industry in the European Commission.
Alojz Peterle is a Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the European Parliament. He is a former Prime Minister of Slovenia.
Paul Révay is the European Director of the Trilateral Commission.
Keith Richardson was Secretary General of the European Roundtable of Industrialists.
Javier Solana is the former EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. He was previously Secretary General of NATO and before that Spain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Dirk Sterckx is a Member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism in the European Parliament, and former Chairman of the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with China. He is a former TV news anchorman.
Frans Van Daele is Head of Cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and before that was Belgium’s Ambassador to NATO, the EU and the United States.
Foreign ministers from the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met in Brunei Darussalam on 26-27 April to enhance commercial ties, strengthen political cooperation and share experiences in crafting regional integrations.
Dr. Jim Yong Kim, an American national and current President of Dartmouth College, is to become the 12th President of the World Bank Group, following a decision taken April 16 by the Executive Directors of the World Bank.