Panel debate: Catching up is hard - development strategies in a world of cascading crises

The Hon. Mr. John Mutorwa is currently serving as the Deputy Prime Minister, whilst at the same time, retaining his position as Minister of Works and Transport. He was appointed in the Deputy Prime Minister role on 09 February 2024.

Following Namibia's independence in 1990, Mr. Mutorwa joined Government, as the Regional Commissioner for the Kavango Region, Omega and Tsumkwe Areas. In 1992, he became a member of both Parliament and Cabinet. He further served in several Ministerial portfolios in the Government, ranging from being the Deputy Minister of the then Department of Water Affairs; Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports; Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources; Minister of Basic Education and Culture; Minister of Basic Education, Sport and Culture; Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture; Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry; and now the Minister of Works and Transport.

Mr. Mutorwa holds a BA Degree, majoring in History and Psychology, from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa; Higher Education Teaching Diploma; BA (Hons in History) from the University of Namibia and a M.Ed (Interdisciplinary Studies in Education) from University of the Montana, (USA) and a Certificate in Executive Program for Leaders in Development from Harvard University (USA).

Javier Juan Vicente Ramón González-Olaechea Franco is a Peruvian political scientist, diplomat and politician. He has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Peru since 7 November 2023.

He previously he held the positions of advisor to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, as well as in the portfolios of Labor, Interior and Energy and Mines. 

Mr. González-Olaechea has served as an executive member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Jean-Chrysostome Ngabitsinze is the Minister of Trade and Industry of Rwanda since 30 July 2022. Before this, he was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources since 9 March 2020, a position he was appointed to after being a Member of Parliament chairing the Public Accounts Committee in 2018.

Previously, he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Rwanda for over 10 years, where he taught agricultural economics and agribusiness among other courses, and from December 2018, he was promoted to Associate Professor.

Besides teaching and political work, he has served on various boards of Government Agencies. In 2016, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) for two years and in the same year 2016, was elected chairperson of the Huye District Council. Prior to that, he chaired the National Land Commission under the Ministry of Natural Resources for three years.

Mr. Ngabitsinze has a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the Doctoral School of Technological Innovation in Agri-food and Environmental Sciences from Milan State University, a Master's degree in Economics from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and a Bachelor's degree in Business Economics from Ca' Foscari University of Venice in Italy.

Vladimir Ilichev was appointed as Deputy Minister in 2020. Within the Ministry, Mr. Ilichev focuses on developing foreign economic activity based on multilateral and bilateral cooperation.

In 2012-2020, Mr. Ilichev headed the Department for Internal Market Protection of the Eurasian Economic Commission. In 2011-2012, he acted as a Director of Department for Foreign Commerce Protective Measures of the Secretariat of the Customs Union Commission.

In his previous roles, he contributed to national trade and development as the Director of Trade Policy and Law Centre LLC (2006-2010), Director of the Department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation (2004-2006), etc.

In 1998, Mr. Ilichev graduated from the Moscow State Open University, and in 2015 from the Kutafin Moscow State Law University.

Mr. José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs was appointed Executive Secretary of ECLAC by the United Nations’ Secretary-General on September 1, 2022. He took office as from October 3, 2022. Previously he served as Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Labour Organization (ILO) from 2015-2018.  He joined the ILO in 2005 as Executive Director of its Employment Sector and served as Assistant Director General for Policy from 2013 to 2015.

Prior to joining the ILO, he served from 1998 to 2005 as Director of the Trade Unit of the Organization of American States.  Mr. Salazar was Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica from 1997 to 1998, Executive President of the Costa Rican Development Corporation from 1988-1990 and Chief Economist and then Executive Director of a Central American private sector think tank (FEDEPRICAP) from 1990-1996.  In the academic sphere, he is also the author of numerous journal articles on development, trade, productive transformation, competitiveness and employment policies, and has written and edited several books. He has taught at the University of Costa Rica, the National University of Heredia, Cambridge University and Georgetown University.

He holds a master’s degree in Development Economics and a doctorate in Economics from Cambridge University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Costa Rica.