Panel dialogue: Preparing for the economies of tomorrow - the urgency of options and actions

Rui Miguêns de Oliveira was appointed Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Government of Angola on 12 July 2023. He was previously Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Angola and Executive Vice President of Banco Keve. 

Mr. de Oliveira is the founder of Banco Valor, an institution where he held, among others, the positions of Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors (2014); Vice-President of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Executive Committee (2013-2014); and Chairman of the Board of Directors (2011-2013).

His academic curriculum includes courses in financial programming and policy analysis from the Bank of Portugal and the IMF Institute, as well as a course of public finance management by Harvard University, Massachusetts, United States of America. 

He has a degree in Economics from the University of Havana, Cuba. It also has the courses of Reserve Management and Foreign Exchange Policy – ESADARM/FMI – Kadoma, Zimbabwe; Monetary and Foreign Exchange Operations – IMF Institute, Washington, United States of America (US); Reserve Management – First National Bank of Pretoria, South Africa, and the course of Risk Management and Analysis of Public Projects, by Duke University of North Carolina, USA.

Nguyen Minh Hang was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Vietnam in October 2023. 

Ms. Nguyen Minh Hang started her diplomatic career in 2000 and has held many positions associated with the process of international integration, multilateral diplomacy, and economic diplomacy for development. country. 

She has served as Deputy Director, Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Minister Counselor, Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore; Deputy Director General, APEC 2017 National Secretariat; Acting Director, then Director, Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, cum Director of the Economic General Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Ms. Nguyen Minh Hang holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and a Master's degree in International Relations in the United Kingdom.

Eva Granados Galiano is currently serving as the State Secretary for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Spain.

Spokesperson for the Socialist Parliamentary Group in the Senate from 2021 to 2023, member of the Catalan Parliament (from 2010 to 2021), member of the National Secretariat of the UGT of Catalonia (from 2002 to 2010), where she served as a representative on the Labour, Economic and Social Affairs Council of Catalonia and Spain. She has worked in the area of corporate social responsibility at Alstom (2007-2010) and has been on leave of absence since then.

Her political work has focused on improving social protection, promoting employment and building the Spanish common project. At university, she was a driving force behind the Fundació Solidaritat-Universitat de Barcelona for the defence of human rights.

She holds a degree in Political and Administrative Science from the University of Barcelona and an Executive Master in Public Management from ESADE. 

Mr. Selim Uddin is currently serving as the Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

He began his career as an Assistant Commissioner and Magistrate in Naogaon district. Later, he served as an Assistant/Senior Assistant Commissioner in Chandpur, Bandarban Hill District Council, and Bandarban district. 

He also served as the Upazila Nirbahi Officer in Ramu Upazila of Cox's Bazar district and as the Deputy Commissioner in Bhola district. In addition, he has held important responsibilities as Senior Assistant Secretary/Deputy Secretary/ Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary in various departments including the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Planning Ministry, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Commerce, and Ministry of Industries.

Pasi Hellman is Under-Secretary of State for International Development at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland since September 2022. 

Before his current position, Mr Hellman was Finland’s Consul General in Shanghai, China (2019- 2022), with the responsibility to also cover four neighbouring provinces of Shanghai. He was Managing Director in the Nordic Development Fund in Helsinki (2012-18), and has served in the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank in Manila, the Philippines (2004-2007). 

In Finland’s foreign service he has held key positions at the Ministry, including Deputy Director General at the Department for Development Policy, Director for International Financial Institutions Division, and Adviser to the Minister for International Development.

He has also worked at the Finnish embassies in the Netherlands and in Kenya. Mr. Hellman has wide experience of board level positions in national and international financial and other institutions, most notably in the African Guarantee Fund, UNU/WIDER, and as Finland’s Governor or Alternate Governor in various international financial institutions (AfDB, ADB, IDB, IFAD). 

Throughout his career collaboration and synergies between the public and the private sector have been key guiding principles in his work. Mr. Hellman is a graduate of the Turku School of Economics (currently part of the University of Turku) in Finland, where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Science in Economics (International Business) in 1996 and Master of Science in Economics in 1991.

Claver Gatete is a Rwandan politician and diplomat who has been serving as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa since 2023. 

Prior to this, Mr. Gatete was the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Rwanda to the United Nations in New York. Mr. Gatete has served in senior government positions, notably as Minister of Infrastructure (2018-2022) and Minister of Finance and Economic Planning (2013-2018). 

He has also served as Governor (2011-2013) and Deputy Governor (2009-2011) of the National Bank of Rwanda, Rwanda’s Central Bank, and Secretary General and Secretary to the Treasury at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in Rwanda (2003-2005). 

He was Director General for Economic and Social Affairs in the Office of the President of Rwanda (2000-2003), during which time, he served as the President’s Representative to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and Coordinator of the National African Peer Review Mechanism. 

Mr. Gatete holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of British Columbia in Canada.