The Forum
Overview
The Forum brings together leaders, decision-makers, entrepreneurs, scholars, intellectuals, and artists to discuss pressing issues of the MEM region. The young change-makers have a unique opportunity to exchange views with senior representatives and experts, and to present ideas and proposals elaborated during the Seminar. The Forum is articulated in panels, key-note speeches by high-level speakers, and interviews. The number of panels varies depending on the current issues, ongoing projects, and collaborations. However, three themes are central and offered at each edition: geopolitics, economic challenges, and culture and art.
Watch the Forum 2021
MEM Summer Summit Forum 2021
Watch the Forum in italian: MEM Summer Summit – Forum 2021 (italiano)
Discover the Panels of the Forum
Panel 1 – New geopolitical configurations in the MEM region
Turki Al-Faisal, Chairman, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Saudi Arabia
in conversation with
Gilles Kepel, Professor, Università della Svizzera italiana and PSL Paris Sciences et Lettres-École Normale Supérieure, France and Switzerland
Reem Al Otaiba, Young change-maker
Alaa Elaroush, Young change-maker
Chairman: Matteo Legrenzi, Professor, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Panel 2 – The religious sphere in the MEM region
Wasim Salman, Professor, Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Arabicorum et Islamicorum (PISAI), Syria Nayla Tabbara, President of Adyan Foundation, Lebanon
Mario Giro, Sant’Egidio Community, Italy
Hadi Damien, Young change-maker
Chairman: Luca Steinmann, Journalist, Fondazione Federica Spitzer, Faculty of Theology of Lugano, Italy
Panel 3 – Economic development of the region: new harbours and new powers
Giampiero Massolo, President of Fincantieri, President of ISPI, Italy
Pascal Ausseur, Vice-Admiral and General director of Institut Fondation méditerranéenne d’études stratégiques, France
Karim El Aynaoui, Faculté de Gouvernance, Sciences Economiques et Sociales, Policy Center for the New South, Morocco
Inbal Perlman, Young change-maker
Chairman: Luca Fasani, Journalist, RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera, Switzerland
Panel 4 – Rethinking the food systems in the MEM region
Marylaure Crettaz Corredor, Head Global Programme Food Security, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Switzerland Giorgio Marrapodi, Director General for Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy Pio Wennubst, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations organisations in Rome, Switzerland
Amin Emadi, Young change-maker
Chairman: Emiliano Albanese, Professor, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
Conversation on Cinema across borders
Giona Nazzaro, Artistic Director, Film Festival Locarno, Switzerland
Bassel Ghandour, Film Director, Jordan
Forum 2021 Programme
The Forum of the MEM Summer Summit will be streamed on the 28 August at 10:00. You can find the programme of the Forum below. The full programme will be available soon.
This panel explores the current configurations of the MEM region, in particular the Abraham Accords and the new direction of the Biden administration in the region.
2020 will be remembered as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the oil price collapse, and one which witnessed all sorts of unexpected turmoil, reaching from the Middle East Mediterranean region to the European suburbs. Fragmentation occurred in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On the one hand, the signing of the Abraham Accords, which include the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan, Israel, aggregating Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and with an eye on Iraq. On the other hand, the “Brother-Shia axis” brings together Gaza, Qatar, Turkey, and Iran with the ad-hoc support of Russia. During these seismic upheavals, Beirut exploded and refugees and illegal migrants flocked to Europe; the Turkish president, Erdogan, wants to make Istanbul the global centre of Islam. 2021 is the year that has marked the Pope’s visit to Iraq, the resurgence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict described by Professor Kepel as “the eleven-day war”, the worsening of the socio-economic crisis in Lebanon, political instability and lack of governance in Tunisia, the withdrawal of the United States from the region and Afghanistan where the Taliban have regained territory and power. 2021 is also a year of recurrences: ten years have passed since the Arab Spring and the conflict in Syria; twenty years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, which radically shattered international relations. How terrorism has changed during these years and where the Middle East Mediterranean region is going are two complex issues that will be addressed during the MEM Summer Summit 2021.
Analytics tools will be provided to analyse the region’s complexity: current configurations will be put into the context of global history, to stimulate a broad reflection on contemporary challenges. This evolving region has, in fact, a significant impact on international dynamics, on Europe and its political structures.
The key-note speech at the MEM Summer Summit 2020 of French President Emanuel Macron was structured around four pillars, including religion. This panel offers an analysis of the fragmentation and pluralisation of the religious sphere, the individualisation of religion and the controversial relationship between religion and politics in the region. The Abraham Accords and the visit of Pope Francis to the UAE in 2019 and to Iraq in 2021 seem to open a space for interfaith dialogue in the region. Could the encounter between different religions and between different ethno-confessional groups be instrumental in overcoming conflicts? Could the encounter between different religions be a valid means to mend the torn Syrian social fabric? Can it foster greater internal stability that contrasts with growing poverty and halt the massive exodus of young people?
Ports such as Ceuta, Tangier, Djen-Djen, Bizerte, Damietta or Port Said are a new generation in the Mediterranean and will surely change the map of transport and economy in the south of this region. The growth of seaports is not enough to adapt to the accelerated rate of economic growth, but new concepts, such as logistic chains, have to be applied to understand the new relationship between peoples, territories, economies and movement of goods. The oil price collapse of 2020 pushed the oil producers to promote an energetic transition towards more sustainable sources. Furthermore, the emergence of new actors in the Mediterranean region has resulted in new economic, military, and ideological power struggles with a change in the region’s patterns of interstate conflict and cooperation.
This panel is organised in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Permanent Representation of Switzerland at the United Nations in Rome, in continuity with Transfoodmation project. The MENA food system is becoming increasingly more complex. Climate change, population growth, shifts towards urban living and the adoption of Western diets bring mutually reinforcing challenges. The MEM region has one of the highest rates of population growth worldwide and a rapidly growing urban population, with 66% expected to be living in cities by 2030. Food insecurity is one of the main drivers of unrest and conflicts in the MEM region. In addition to that, water scarcity and climate change are common challenges in the region. “The 2021 UN Food Systems Summit” will seek to engage donors and the international development community to transform food systems such that they are inclusive, sustainable, healthy and resilient, and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Conversation between the Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival Giona Nazzaro and the Jordanian Film Director Bassel Ghandour on the importance of co-production in cinema and changing narratives in the region. Bassel Ghandour talks about his film “The Alleys” that was premiered during this year’s edition of the Locarno Film Festival.
The COVID-19 health emergency and the containment measures put in place by the various countries worldwide have brought about, as is well known, a collapse in oil prices. This had a knock-on effect on the economy, as well as on politics and society. Some will argue that the sun may be about to set on the undisputed power of Middle Eastern petromonarchies. In this context, Libya, ripped apart by internal tribal divisions and very much the focus of international interests, provides fertile ground and matter for reflecting on the present and future of oil producing countries. The panel is made up of speakers from the oil industry and shipbuilding. They all contributed, from their expertise, to outlining the current situation and possible future scenarios.
Pio Wennubst talked about “Bites of Transfoodmation”, an initiative launched and run by the Permanent Representation of Switzerland to the FAO, IFAD, and WFP. The event will take place in Rome on 20—24 October and bring together highly motivated and innovative young people to reflect on the future of food systems. The Middle East Mediterranean region, where food and its production play an extraordinary cultural and socio-economic role, is badly affected by climate change, by growing urbanisation, and escalating primary goods prices.
Language
English and French, with Italian subtitles.
Speakers 2021
H.E. IGNAZIO CASSIS
Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Switzerland
H.E. IGNAZIO CASSIS
H.E. Ignazio Cassis graduated from the University of Zurich in 1988 with a degree in Human Medicine. He subsequently worked as a doctor from 1988 to 1996. Thereafter, in 1996, he became cantonal physician for the Canton of Ticino and in the same year he obtained a master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) from the University of Geneva. He graduated in 1998, specialising in internal medicine as well as in prevention and public health.
Cassis’ political career began in 2004 with his election to the legislative authority of the Ticino municipality of Collina d’Oro. From 2008 to 2012, Cassis held the office of vice-president of the Swiss Medical Association. From 2015, he chaired the National Council’s Social Security and Health Committee, and has also been vice-chairman or chairman of various parliamentary groups.
During the two years prior to his election to the Federal Council, Cassis was president of the parliamentary group of the FDP.The Liberals, of which he became a member upon being elected to the National Council in 2007.
Since 2001, he has lectured at various universities in Switzerland. He has also been a member of numerous foundations and associations. He was the head of the CURAVIVA association (care homes and institutions in Switzerland) and Curafutura, a health insurance association.
Cassis was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on 20 September 2017, where he took up his post as head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs on 1 November 2017.
H.E. SAYYID BADR BIN HAMAD BIN HAMOOD AL BUSAIDI
Foreign Minister of the Sultanate of Oman, Oman
H.E. SAYYID BADR BIN HAMAD BIN HAMOOD AL BUSAIDI
H.E. Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Al Busaidi received a Masters in Politics, Philospohy and Economics from Oxford University in 1988. The following year, he was appointed as first secretary and played a key role in the establishment of a department dedicated to the political analysis of international and regional developments. In 1996, he was promoted to ambassador and in 1997 he was appointed head of cabinet at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2000 to 2007, H.E. Al Busaidi was deputy secretary general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after which he became secretary general and was also given the title of minister. In 2020, he was appointed as foreign minister of Oman.
H.E Al Busaidi is a longstanding influential diplomat who served an important role in the Middle East peace process as Oman’s negotiator during the first direct talks in 1995.
H.E. Al Busaidi received Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis during Mr. Cassis’ visit to Oman in April 2021, where the two of them signed a Memorandum of Understanding to hold regular political consultations.
H.R.H. PRINCE TURKI AL FAISAL
Chairman, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Saudi Arabia
H.R.H. PRINCE TURKI AL FAISAL
His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud received an honorary PhD in Law in 2010 from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, an honorary PhD in International Politics in 2011 from the University of Hankuk in Korea, and an honorary PhD in 2015 from the University of Shanghai. HRH is a visiting distinguished professor at Georgetown University.
A founder and trustee of the King Faisal Foundation, His Royal Highness is also the chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. In addition, His Royal Highness is a trustee of the Oxford Islamic Center at Oxford University and the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown University.
In September 2015, the University of Rome Tor Vergata appointed HRH as an honorary professor, and the Fondazione Mediterraneo in Naples, Italy, granted HRH the Mediterranean Award for Diplomacy 2015. In October 2016, HRH was awarded an honorary citizenship of Seoul, South Korea, by H.E. Mr Park Won-Soon, mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Seoul.
His Royal Highness was appointed as an advisor at the Royal Court in 1973. In 1977 HRH was appointed director general (with a rank of minister) of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID), Saudi Arabia’s main foreign intelligence service, and served as its head until August 2001. In October 2002, His Royal Highness was appointed as the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. HRH served in that position until July 2005, when he was appointed as ambassador to the United States until February 2007.
GEIR O. PEDERSEN
The UN special envoy for Syria, Norway
GEIR O. PEDERSEN
Geir O. Pedersen was appointed as special envoy for Syria in October 2018. Pedersen brings to this position decades of political and diplomatic experience, having served both in government and UN capacities, most recently as Norway’s ambassador to the People’s Republic of China from 2017 to 2018, and as permanent representative of Norway to the UN from 2012 to 2017.
Pedersen served the UN in various roles, including as special coordinator for Lebanon from 2007 to 2008, and as personal representative of the Secretary-General for Southern Lebanon from 2005 to 2007. He also worked as director of the Asia and Pacific Division in the Department of Political Affairs.
Between 1998 and 2003, Pedersen served as the Norwegian representative to the Palestinian Authority. From 1995 to 1998, he held different positions at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo, among them chief of staff for the Norwegian Foreign Minister.
In 1993, he was a member of the Norwegian team for the Oslo negotiations that led to the signing of the Declaration of Principles and the mutual recognition between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel.
BOAS EREZ
Rector, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
BOAS EREZ
Professor Boas Erez graduated in 1981 from the Liceo Cantonale (scientific lyceum) in Lugano, and continued his studies at the University of Geneva where he obtained a degree in mathematics in 1985 and, in 1987, a Ph.D. in mathematics. From 1985 to 1990, he was an assistant at the same university, before moving to Harvard University where he was Benjamin Peirce Assistant Professor from 1990 to 1993. In 1993, he was appointed Full professor of mathematics at the University of Bordeaux, where he held several executive positions at the level of institute, faculty, commissions, programmes, doctoral committees and international scientific projects. Erez was time and again a Board member of the University of Bordeaux 1, and was also vice-president of the university from 2005 to 2008. Erez is the author of numerous quality scientific publications and has regularly organized international activities in his subject field. He has great experience in the coordination of joint international projects in higher education. As of September 1st, 2016, Boas Erez is Rector of the Università della Svizzera italiana.
GILLES KEPEL
Professor and Scientific Director of the Middle East Mediterranean Freethinking Platform, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland; PSL Paris Sciences et Lettres-École Normale Supérieure, France
GILLES KEPEL
Gilles Kepel is a French political scientist and Arabist, specialised in the contemporary Middle East and Muslims in the West. He is Adjunct Professor and scientific director of the Middle East Mediterranean Freethinking Platform. He is also Professor at the Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) and director of the Middle East and Mediterranean Chair at PSL, based at Ecole Normale Supérieure.
Originally trained as a classicist, he started to study Arabic after a journey to the Levant in 1974. He first graduated in Philosophy and English, then completed his Arabic language studies at the French Institute in Damascus (1977–78), and received his degree from Sciences Po in 1980. His research interests focus on the current geopolitical configurations and conflicts in the Middle East Mediterranean region, including the impact of Jihadi terror in the wake of the Massive attacks on French and European soil.
He investigated the developments of Islam as a social and political phenomenon in France, with an innovative approach in Islamic studies in the West. He researched on the 2005 French Banlieues riots in the Clichy-Montfermeil area, north of Paris, whence the events sparked. He also carried out comparative studies of political-religious movements in Islam, Judaism and Christianity. His two latest books are titled: Away from Chaos, Columbia University Press (2020) and Le prophète et la pandémie. Du Moyen-Orient au jihadisme d’atmosphère, Gallimard (2021).
EMILIANO ALBANESE
Professor, Università della Svizzera italiana; Director, WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Mental Health, University of Geneva, Switzerland
EMILIANO ALBANESE
Professor Emiliano Albanese is a physician with an FMH specialisation in public health from the University of Milan / London, an MSc in public health nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as an MD-PhD in clinical neuropsychology.
He is the director of the Institute of Public Health at USI, where he is full professor of public health in the faculty of Biomedical Sciences at the Università della Svizzera italiana and director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine at the University of Geneva.
Albanese has worked at the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, the National Institute on Aging (NIH, Bethesda, USA) and the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing (London, UK). Albanese is also active more broadly in the field of both global mental health, public health nutrition, particularly in Low and Middle Income Countries, and as an epidemiologist. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Albanese coordinated the Corona Immunitas Study in Ticino, an epidemiological study aimed at monitoring the impact of the epidemic and its spread across age groups and over time.
PASCAL AUSSEUR
Vice-Admiral and General director of Institut Fondation méditerranéenne d’études stratégiques, France
PASCAL AUSSEUR
Vice-Admiral Pascal Ausseur served in operational positions on surface ships, especially within the French Aircraft Carrier Group. He was appointed three times as commanding officer, notably the air defense destroyer (DDGH) Jean Bart.
He took part to numerous operations in the Gulf of Guinea, the Persian-Arabian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea, the Middle-East and the Indian Ocean.
Beside this operational career, he was much involved in political-military and international affairs at the strategic level. He was in particular in charge of the Euro-Atlantic area, the UN, the EU and NATO. He was assigned twice at the Private Office of the Minister of Defense: with minister Hervé Morin as head of the international office “Western World and Asia” and with minister Jean-Yves Le Drian as chief of the military Private Office.
He has been responsible for defense industry cooperation and export for Asia and Pacific at the DGA (Defense procurement and technology agency).
He has been finally Maritime Prefect for the Manche and North Sea, acting for the Government and commanding the military forces in this area.
In October 2018, he quit the arm forces to take the direction of the FMES institute, a think tank dedicated to the Euro-Mediterranean region and MENA.
PATRICE BERGAMINI
Vice-president Public Affairs and Governmental Contracts Business Development of CMA CGM Group, France
PATRICE BERGAMINI
Patrice Bergamini is a French career diplomat, seconded to the European institutions between 2001 and 2020. He is “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite”. At 25, he entered the Quai d’Orsay where he was appointed to the ex-Yugoslavia Task Force. He served there from the start of the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreements to the Rambouillet negotiations. In 1999, he was appointed First Secretary at the French Embassy in Rome. In 2001, he joined the Cabinet of the first European Chief diplomat, Javier Solana, in Brussels. In 2003, he was part of the group of experts that drafted the very first European Union security strategy. He also participated in the nuclear negotiations with Iran. In 2006, he became Deputy Director of the Cabinet of Javier Solana. In 2009, he worked with the European Counter-Terrorism Coordinator.
In 2010, he was invited to join the new European External Action Service (EEAS). Initially to lead the Situation Center of the European Union (SITCEN). Following the Arab Spring, he was deployed to several Arab countries, across North Africa and the Levant. From 2012, he was Co-President of the Union for the Mediterranean and its 43 Ambassadors. He worked with the European Commission to launch new socio-economic projects in favour of regional development. In 2016, he was appointed European Union Ambassador to Tunisia.
MARYLAURE CRETTAZ CORREDOR
Head Global Programme Food Security, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Switzerland
MARYLAURE CRETTAZ CORREDOR
Marylaure Crettaz Corredor has more than 20 years of International Cooperation experience, starting with 4 years in the humanitarian field as protection officer with the International Committee of the Red Cross in conflict-affected contexts (Rwanda, Kosovo and Colombia).
In 2003, she joined the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and has since then consolidated her experience in natural resources management and governance, rural development, agriculture and food security, economic development, climate change, energy and low-carbon development.
She has supported project design and management, knowledge sharing and policy processes in these different fields at national and regional levels (West Africa, Andes, Central America and the Caribbean, India and South Asia), as well as in global dynamics, within SDC’s Global Programme Climate Change and Environment and Global Programme Food Security. She is currently co-heading the Global Programme Food Security at SDC’s Headquarters in Switzerland.
KARIM EL AYNAOUI
Faculté de Gouvernance, Sciences Economiques et Sociales, Policy Center for the New South, Morocco
KARIM EL AYNAOUI
Executive President of the Policy Center for the New South, and Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences and Executive Vice-President of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
From 2005 to 2012, he worked at the Central Bank of Morocco as the Director of Economics, Statistics and International Relations. Prior to this, he served as an economist at the World Bank.
He holds scientific and advisory positions in various institutions, including the Malabo-Montpellier Panel, the Moroccan Capital Market Authority, and the French Institute of International Relations. He is also advisor to the CEO and Chairman of the OCP Group, and serves as a board member of the OCP Foundation and as a global member of the Trilateral Commission. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Bordeaux.
BASSEL GHANDOUR
Film Director, Jordan
BASSEL GHANDOUR
Bassel Ghandour graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in Cinematic Arts. After working as a production assistant on various films such as THE HURT LOCKER and CAPTAIN ABU RAED, Ghandour wrote and produced THEEB, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards in 2016. The film also won Best British Newcomer and was nominated for Best Film Not In The English Language at the BAFTAs that same year. THEEB had also won over a dozen awards at various film festivals, including the Orizzonti competition’s Best Director at the 71st Venice Film Festival. Ghandour also established Bay Al Shawareb, a production company in Amman, Jordan, which provides various services for the film and TV industry in Jordan.
MATTEO LEGRENZI
Professor, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
MATTEO LEGRENZI
Matteo Legrenzi is a professor of International Relations at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He holds a DPhil in International Relations and an MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from St Antony’s College, Oxford. He served as president of the Italian Association for Middle Eastern Studies (SeSaMO) and is a member of the International Advisory Council of the World Congress for Middle East Studies (WOCMES) and of the European Association for Middle Eastern Studies (EURAMES) Council.
He helped to establish and served as inaugural coordinator of the undergraduate program in Philosophy, International Studies and Economics (PISE) and its double degree with the University of Gröningen. He was founding director of the master in Strategic Studies and International Security and is coordinator of the Research Institute for International Studies.
He is a member of the Institute of International Affairs (IAI – Istituto Affari Internazionali) and he is senior research associate at the Centre for International Studies of the Department of Politics and International Relations, as well as academic visitor, at St Antony’s College, Oxford. He has also served as rector’s delegate for the Middle East and studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo. Before returning to Venice he taught in Oxford, Ottawa and Seoul and in 2009 he won the Capital Educators’ Award in Canada.
Legrenzi is an honorary research fellow at the University of Exeter and currently supervises numerous Marie Curie Global Individual Fellowships and four Marie Curie Europe Individual Fellowships. He deals with international relations and comparative government of the Middle East, in particular the political economy, regionalism and security of the Arab monarchies of the Gulf.
GIORGIO MARRAPODI
Director General for Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy
GIORGIO MARRAPODI
Giorgio Marrapodi was appointed the Director General for Development Cooperation on 2 February 2018.
A career diplomat with 32 years of experience, he was Italian Ambassador to Austria (2013-2017) and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Italian Embassy to Spain (2005–2009). Previously he served at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the European Union in Brussels (2001–2005) and to the United Nations in New York (1994-1998). At the Foreign Ministry in Rome he was Division Chief for Legal Affairs.
Entered the diplomatic service in 1987, his first overseas assignment was in Bucharest, where he served at the Italian Embassy to Romania (1990-1994).
He is a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Knight Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He received the highest decoration from the Republic of Austria and the Star of Diplomacy from Lithuania.
GIAMPIERO MASSOLO
President of ISPI (Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale), President of Fincantieri, Italy
GIAMPIERO MASSOLO
Giampiero Massolo is president of Fincantieri S.p.A (2016) and president of the Italian Institute for International Political Studies – ISPI (2017). A career diplomat, Ambassador Massolo was the coordinator of the Italian Intelligence Community (2012-2016), the Prime Minister’s personal representative (Sherpa) for the G8 and G20 Summits (2008-2009), as well as the secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2007-2012).
He is adjunct professor of National security and International relations studies both at the School of Government of the LUISS University in Rome and at Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs. He regularly contributes on international and security matters to the newspaper “La Stampa”.
GIONA NAZZARO
Artistic Director, Film Festival Locarno, Switzerland
GIONA NAZZARO
Giona A. Nazzaro previously served as the general delegate of the International Film Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival, as a member of the artistic committee of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in 2020, and as a programmer and curator on the selection committee of the Visions du Réel Festival in Nyon (2010-2020). He also worked as a programmer and curator for Torino Cinema Giovani, Festival dei Popoli and the Rome Film Festival, and in 2015 he co-created and curated the exhibition “Il di/segno del cinema” at the Cagliari Civic Museum.
He has authored and edited books on Gus Van Sant, Spike Lee and Abel Ferrara. He pioneered the study of Hong Kong cinema in Italy, as the editor of the volumes Il cinema di Hong Kong – Spade, kung fu, pistole, fantasmi (Le mani, 1997), John Woo – La nuova leggenda del cinema d’azione (Castelvecchi, 2000) and Il dizionario dei film di Hong Kong (Universitaria Editrice, 2005). His book Action! Forme di un transgenere cinematografico (Le mani, 2000) won the Barbaro/Filmcritica Prize. His fiction debut was A Mon Dragone c’è il Diavolo (Perdisa Pop, 2010).
A member of the National Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI), he works as a film journalist and regularly contributes to il manifesto, Film Tv, Micromega and other online and print outlets. He was one of the founders of the film monthly Sentieri selvaggi. He is also a member of the Federal Commission of Cinema.
DIANA SEGANTINI
Advisor for Arts, culture, heritage and media, Switzerland
DIANA SEGANTINI
Diana Segantini is a Swiss/Norwegian citizen who specialised in Arab-Islamic Studies at L’Orientale University in Naples and holds a Masters in International Relations from IUHEI Geneva. Segantini started her professional career in the art and documentary film scene, as well as gaining extensive experience working in different countries serving the UN, various NGOs and more extensively in the Middle East as a delegate for the International Red Cross ICRC for 4 years. Fluent in Arabic and 9 other languages, she has become an expert on the Arab region and with regard to intercultural issues.
In 2008, she founded Segantini Unlimited, an agency specialised in cultural mediation and international cultural productions such as art exhibitions, music events, debates and documentary films, mandated by the Global Ethic Foundation.
Segantini has also led women’s empowerment programs in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC. For 6 years, she was head of Arts & Culture for Swiss TV and radio RSI and a Member of the RSI Board, producing music concerts and over 100 feature and documentary films, acclaimed at various international Festivals.
Since 2019, she has contributed to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 through several projects; in 2019 she was appointed Chief Heritage & Culture officer at Diriyah Gate Development Authority in Saudi Arabia, responsible for this UNESCO Heritage Site, building up several cultural institutions such as museums, academies and an Art District. She subsequently served as senior director for Arts & Culture at AMAALA. Currently, she is Partner for Culture, Heritage & Communication at AEON Strategy, a Saudi firm specialised in true sustainability. Moreover, she is an independent advisor for arts, culture, media & philanthropy in different projects in GCC and Switzerland.
LUCA STEINMANN
Journalist, Fondazione Federica Spitzer, Faculty of Theology of Lugano, Italy
LUCA STEINMANN
Luca Steinmann is a journalist, a reporter and a geopolitical analyst. He is a Master graduate in Geopolitics, Security and Intelligence and teaches geopolitics at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Lugano and at the Rome Business School. He worked for the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. He regularly travels to the MENA Region from where he publishes reports, interviews and analyses. He currently directs the “Syria Project” of the Federica Spitzer Foundation.
NAYLA TABBARA
President of Adyan Foundation, Lebanon
NAYLA TABBARA
Prof. Dr. Nayla Tabbara is the Chairperson and founding member of Adyan, Foundation for Diversity, Solidarity and Human Dignity.
She is also a co-president of Religions for Peace, and member of the Executive Committee of its World Council.
She holds a PhD in Science of Religions from Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne-Paris) and Saint Joseph University (Beirut) and is a university professor in Religious and Islamic Studies at Saint Joseph University, Beirut.
She is also a muslim woman theologian and has publications in the fields of Islamic theology of other religions, Islamic Feminism, Education on interreligious and intercultural diversity, Qur’anic exegesis and Sufism.
She works on curricula development (formal and non-formal) on multifaith education, inclusive citizenship and Freedom of Religion or Belief.
She has received the Gold Medal of the French Renaissance Award and the Special Jury award of the Fr. Jacques Hamel Prize, the Ecritures et Spiritualités Award and the Academie des Sciences d’Outre mer award for her book L’islam pensé par une femme (Bayard, 2018).
PIO WENNUBST
Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations organisations in Rome, Switzerland
PIO WENNUBST
Ambassador Pio Wennubst, an agro-economist specialised in systemic approaches by formation, is an experienced development diplomat with extensive fieldwork. After a period as managing director of a Swiss chemical company, he joined the public sector. Between 1992 and 2008, Wennubst moved first to Nepal to work for the UN and later to different countries, such as Bolivia, Madagascar and Tanzania, to work for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
From 2008 to 2011, he was the deputy permanent representative of the Swiss Mission to the Rome-based UN agencies and from 2010, he was also in charge of reforming the SDC’s Global Programme Food Security. He later joined the Swiss permanent mission to the UN in New York as head of the economic and social development team where he facilitated several resolutions, including the QCPR 2012 in which the United Nations Development System reform is rooted. Subsequently, Wennubst managed for almost six years the Global Cooperation Department as assistant director general of SDC and was in charge of the Swiss support to multilateral funds and programs such as UNDP, Green Climate Fund, UNWOMEN, UNICEF, UNCDF and others.
Currently, Ambassador Wennubst is representing Switzerland at multilateral agencies based in Rome that deal with food security and agricultural development, namely FAO, IFAD, WFP and CFS. In the context of the United Nations Food Systems Summit that will take place in New York in September 2021, Wennubst launched the project “Bites of Transfoodmation”, which engages youth to transform food systems through a unifying common vision.
Watch last year's edition of the Forum
MEM Summer Summit Forum 2020
Emmanuel Macron’s speech during the MEM Summer Summit
The French President Emmanuel Macron, in a video message, spoke about the importance of the region and its political balance, focusing on the conflicts in Syria and Libya and the crisis in Lebanon. The analysis of the French President – invoking for collective responsibility to find shared solutions – is structured around four pillars: religion, demographics, energy and politics.
Practical Information
Transport
By train: Lugano is one of the principal stops on the main European North-South route and can be reached from many cities in the northern and southern part of Europe by direct day or night train connections. Check trains and updated departure times from/to Lugano here.
By plane: The quickest way to get to Lugano from most places abroad, will be through a number of airports listed below:
- From Milano Malpensa: The S50 is the train line that connects Lugano and Malpensa. Check trains and updated departure times here. Direct bus connections to Lugano are available on demand. To make a reservation contact Giosy Tours at +41 79 133 53 23.
- Lugano Airport is served by Swiss International Air Lines. From the airport, you can take a shuttle bus to the centre of the city or a taxi.
- Zurich Airport: As an alternative you might consider flying to Zurich and use the train to travel to Lugano (overall, a 2h journey). There is a direct, hourly train from Zurich main station to Lugano. It is a chance to experience the longest train tunnel in Europe by passing under the Gotthard.
Visa
For citizens of the following countries, only a valid passport is required to travel in Switzerland: Americas (except Belize, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Colombia and Peru), Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Passport holders from other countries should consult the relevant visa requirements.
Please note that the general visa and entry procedure is described in detail in this information sheet.
Leisure
The Lugano region is well-known for the beauty of its landscape, lake, mountains and Mediterranean vegetation.
For further information: https://www.luganoregion.com/en