Ambassador Gallegos is a distinguished Ecuadorian diplomat who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador and as Chair of the Board of Trustees of UNITAR. With over five decades of service in international relations, human rights, and multilateral diplomacy. He has been Ecuador’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in both New York and Geneva across three separate terms, playing a key role in advancing global human rights frameworks.

Ambassador Gallegos has also held ambassadorial posts in El Salvador, Australia, and Bulgaria, as well as leadership roles at the Organization of American States and the UN Committee against Torture.

Ambassador Gallegos chaired the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee responsible for drafting the landmark Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), one of the most significant international human rights treaties of the 21st century. His longstanding commitment to disability rights has earned him global recognition, including leadership positions with the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict) and the Institute of Public Policy and Disability. He is also a board member of the Special Olympics.

In addition, Ambassador Gallegos has held vice-presidential positions within several UN bodies, including the Human Rights Commission, the UN General Assembly, and ECOSOC, contributing extensively to international governance and multilateral dialogue.

Ambassador Gallegos holds a Doctor of Law (JD) from the Central University of Ecuador and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

H.E. Ambassador Royo is a seasoned Panamanian diplomat with extensive experience in multilateral organisations and international relations. She has held several key positions in Panama’s foreign service, including serving as Ambassador to the United Kingdom since 2022. Previously, she served at the Permanent Mission of Panama to the United Nations, where she managed the economic section and led negotiations on global initiatives such as the Development Agenda, the IV World Conference on Women, the World Summit for Social Development, and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

She was the Coordinator for the Rio Group, representing 14 Latin American countries and facilitating their positions at the United Nations. She also served at the Mission of Panama to the Organisation of American States (OAS) during the XXVI General Assembly hosted by Panama.

Ambassador Royo also worked with the Permanent Mission of Panama to UNESCO and at the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). During her eight years at SEGIB, she managed multilateral cooperation programs between Latin American governments, disaster prevention efforts with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), decentralization, municipalities, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

She studied journalism at New York University (NYU) and holds master’s degrees in International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, as well as in Political Communications and International Affairs from Fundación Ortega y Gasset / Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain.

H.E. Ambassador Tsegab Kebebew Daka is a veteran Ethiopian diplomat with a distinguished career in multilateral diplomacy, international relations, and bilateral engagement. He currently serves as Permanent Representative of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, and as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Romania. He is also accredited to key international organizations in Vienna, including the UNODC, IAEA, CTBTO, and UNIDO.

Ambassador Daka brings over three decades of diplomatic experience across multiple continents and high-level strategic roles. Prior to his current appointment, he served as Ambassador of Ethiopia to Australia from 2022 to 2023, where he worked to strengthen Ethiopia’s bilateral ties with countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

His overseas postings reflect a deep engagement with both multilateral institutions and bilateral partnerships. He served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Ethiopian Embassy in The Hague (2019–2021), and earlier as Minister Counsellor in Washington, D.C. (2011–2015) and Second Secretary in Beijing (2001–2006), where he worked to advance Ethiopia’s diplomatic, economic, and development agendas.

A seasoned multilateral negotiator, he was elected Second Vice-Chairperson of the Bureau of the Executive Committee of UNHCR in 2024 and also serves as Chair of the UNDRR Support Group in Geneva and has coordinated health diplomacy for the African Ambassadors Group. He has been an active voice in promoting international partnerships in food security, technology, and investment, representing Ethiopia in high-level forums with the International Telecommunication Union, the Group of Friends of Food Security, and Swiss economic stakeholders.

Ambassador Daka holds a Master of Arts in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University and an Executive Master in Development and Governance from CERIS-ULB Diplomatic School of Brussels.

The Honorable Minister Chad Blackman is a seasoned Barbadian diplomat, lawyer, and policymaker with an extensive background in international trade, multilateral diplomacy, and global governance. He currently serves as the Minister of Educational Transformation, and is a former Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment, following his appointment to the Senate of Barbados in January 2024. In May 2025, he was elected as Member of Parliament for St. James North in a by-election, further reinforcing his prominent role in national politics.

The Hon. Minister Chad Blackman brings a wealth of international experience to his ministerial responsibilities. From 2022 to 2023, he served as Senior Advisor to the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), where he oversaw strategic portfolios across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Arab States, and key areas including legal affairs, corporate services, and external relations.

Before his role at the ILO, he held the post of Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations and other international organisations in Geneva, Vienna, and Rome from 2018 to 2022. Concurrently, he was accredited as Ambassador to Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia. During this time, he served in several high-profile leadership roles, including Chair of both the Trade and Development Committee and the Trade and Environment Committee at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). He was also President of the Group of 77 and China (Geneva Chapter) and Coordinator of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) at UNCTAD.

The Hon. Minister Chad Blackman began his diplomatic and legal career as a consultant attorney specializing in international trade law, tax policy, and regulatory compliance. He later became a partner at Global Partners International and has advised governments, international organisations, and private sector clients on trade and investment issues. He is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London) and has been a global board member of the UN International Gender Champions initiative.

The Hon. Minister Chad Blackman holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Trade Law and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Essex.

The Honourable Francisco de la Torre Prados has been Mayor of Malaga since 2000, and was re-elected by an absolute majority on three consecutive occasions (2003, 2007, and 2011). He was also re-elected in 2015 and 2019. 

The Hon. Mayor de la Torre Prados has been the Vice President of the Euro-Mediterranean Paternariado of Regional and Local Assembly (since 2010), and Vice President of the Euro-Mediterranean Association of Local and Regional Assembly. He has notable involvement in the development of Malaga as a pioneer city in Smart City and Sustainable Development. 

The Hon. Mayor de la Torre Prados has chaired the Finance Commission, as well as the Mobility and Accessibility Commission of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces. He was elected Deputy for Malaga from 1977 to 1982, and Senator for the Constituency of Malaga from 2011 to 2014. He was National Deputy and Adviser in the first pre-autonomous Government of Andalusia. At the Spanish Congreso de los Diputados, he is a member of the Budget Committee and the Tourism, Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Committee.

In 2017, he was awarded by the French Republic, the Legion of Honour for his role in building cultural relations with France. In 2018, he received the Pushkin Medal from the Russian Federation for promoting cultural ties between Russia and Spain. In 2019, he was awarded the Distinction of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendly relations between Japan and Spain.

The Hon. Mayor De La Torre Prados graduated with a PhD in Agronomy from the University of Madrid, is a Regional Development Specialist at the University of Rennes (France), as well as a BA in Sociology from the University of Málaga.

Mr. D’Aza has extensive experience in municipal politics at both the national and international levels, giving him the knowledge and leadership skills to propose, introduce, and drive the changes needed by Dominican municipalities and their entities to lead development processes in the territory.

Elected Mayor of the municipality of Villa González for the period 1998-2002, he implemented the country's first participatory municipal budget, before it was included in the legal framework and subsequently enshrined in the Constitution reformed in 2010.

He was executive director of the Dominican Federation of Municipalities (Fedomu) for 11 years, a position in which he contributed to the approval of Law 176-07 on the National District and Municipalities, Law 170-07 on Participatory Budgeting, and Law 166-03, which allocates 10 per cent of national budget revenue to municipalities. During Víctor D'Aza's tenure at Fedomu, the Dominican Republic ranked as the country in the region with the highest level of trust in municipal governments according to the Americas Barometer, with an average of 63.7.

In 2016, he was elected deputy for the province of Santiago and was directly involved in the discussion and approval of the Law on Political Parties and Groups, as well as in the reform of the Electoral Regime Law.

He is a member of the National Directorate of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) and was executive director of Luis Abinader's Presidential Cabinet during the 2020 election campaign.

President Abinader appointed him Deputy Minister of Inter-institutional Relations and Relations with the Powers of the State of the Administrative Ministry of the Presidency, and subsequently, the National Assembly of Municipalities unanimously elected him president of the Dominican Municipal League.

He holds a law degree from the Technological University of Santiago (UTESA) and a Master in Urban Planning and Municipal Management from the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), along with extensive complementary training in local development.

Professor Hatipoğlu is a distinguished academic leader and expert in European Studies, international relations, and political economy. She is currently serving as the Rector of Bahçeşehir University and was previously the Rector of Nişantaşi University in Türkiye.

Prof. Dr. Hatipoğlu has played a key role in global academic and policy circles, conducting research at leading international institutions, including the European University Institute (Florence), the London School of Economics (LSE), and the Central European University (Budapest).

She has contributed actively to several projects under the auspices of the Presidency of Türkiye, including Türkiye’s Strategic Vision 2023 Project, initiatives related to the European Union, EFTA, CEFTA, and human rights education. She was also the Deputy Director of Marmara University’s Middle East Studies Institute (2001–2006) and the founding head of the Department of International Political Economy at Marmara University’s Faculty of Political Sciences (2014–2015).

Her academic career includes teaching and research at Marmara University, where she became an Associate Professor of International Relations in 2007 and a Full Professor in 2014. Prof. Dr. Hatipoğlu holds degrees from Marmara University’s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences (Political Science and International Relations and Economics), an MA in Russian and Post-Soviet Studies from LSE, and a PhD in European Studies from Marmara University.

Dr. Vishwajeet Rana is a globally recognised education leader and the Group Chief Executive Officer of GEDU Global Education, a multinational education group operating across more than 15 countries.

With a background in international finance and a deep commitment to widening access to quality education, he is dedicated to building inclusive and high-impact learning ecosystems that continue to inspire educational reform and opportunity across continents. His leadership was recently recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award from POWER 100 and British Asians Who’s Who for his contributions to the UK’s Asian community and the global education sector.

Dr. Rana began his career in finance at HSBC’s New York office, where he specialised in cross-border equity and debt structured investments across markets in the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Hong Kong. He later transitioned into the education sector, where he has led GEDU in transforming the lives of over 75,000 students globally by focusing on employability, accessibility, and academic excellence.

A respected academic and author, Dr. Rana holds an MBA from Ohio University and an MS and PhD from Stevens Institute of Technology. He is also the author of the textbook Applied Corporate Valuation & Financial Modelling, which is widely used in business and finance education.

Dr. Deisi Kusztra is the President of the World Family Organization. Since assuming this position in 1997, she has represented the Organization at the United Nations, governments, and intergovernmental organisations level. She directs the work of the Organization through its regional structures and national committees, and assists governments in preparing strategic frameworks and plans of action to implement family-focused policies, programs, projects, and services at national, regional, and local levels, especially in health, education, housing, social promotion, family mediation, and microcredit, among others. 

Dr. Kusztra has formerly been a member of UNITAR's Board of Trustees for a period of six years. In partnership with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs – NGO Section, she is implementing the Informal Regional Network in Latin America, preparing NGOs to establish partnerships with Governments and the Private Sector, strengthening their capacity to network and respond to the challenges of development. 

She has received many national and international awards and prizes in recognition of her dedication and her work towards the promotion of family policies throughout the world. Dr. Kusztra has worked in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America and is now based in South America, where she networks with the world on Family Issues.

Dr. Kusztra is a Medical Doctor, Pediatrician, with a Master's Degree in Maternal and Child Health Care and a Doctorate in Public Health. 

Dr. Fan serves as the Executive Vice President of the Shanghai Arbitration Commission (SHAC).    He has extensive knowledge of the Asia-Pacific region and is an experienced arbitrator.  Over 200 arbitration proceedings have been conducted with him as presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator or co-arbitrator under the rules of UNCITRAL, CAS, SIAC, HKIAC, KCAB, CIETAC, etc. 

On top of commercial arbitration, Dr. Fan’s appointments and tenures witness his extensive experiences in the niche disciplines of sports and international investment arbitration.  

Dr. Fan is a panel arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and a Council Member of the China Court of Arbitration for Sport (CCAS).  He chaired the Arbitration Commission of the Chinese Football Association between 2019 and 2023 and served on the ad hoc panel of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023 as well as the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin.

Dr. Fan is one of the four ICSID arbitrators by the PRC government to the ICSID panel as well as a Fellow of Roma Tre-UNIDROIT "Center for Transnational Commercial Law and Investment Arbitration”.

Before joining SHAC, Dr. Fan served as Director of Arbitration and ADR for North Asia of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) between 2016 and 2021 and as a law professor for 13 years at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, one of the leading law schools in Shanghai, PR China, during which he was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Duke University, the United States. He received Ph. D from the East China University of Political Science and Law in PR China and LLM from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

Dr. East is a world-renowned champion for sustainability, an educator, and a social innovator. Her work spans the fields of cultural geography, urban ecology, and women’s studies. She holds a Master of Science in Spatial Planning with specialisation in the rehabilitation of abandoned villages and a PhD in Architecture and Urban Planning on the topic “What if Women Designed the City?”.

 Her research interests also include nature-based solutions for urban planning and the use of regenerative design approaches for shaping eco-communities, mining cities, slums, transition, and abandoned towns. Her passion is to co-develop Project-Based Learning trajectories supporting indigenous and migrant communities and their traditions to survive in rapidly changing environments while enhancing their opportunities to become the designers of their desired future.  She works with community-based organisations and intergovernmental agencies in policy guidance for SDGs implementation with projects seeking to strengthen climate resilience, food security, and women’s empowerment. 

Dr. East was designated one of the 100 Global Sustainability Leaders by Showcase Asia and ABC Carbon three years in a row and Women of the Decade in Sustainability and Leadership by Women Economic Forum 2019.

Mr. Ammirati has served as Director for Road Safety and Global Advocacy at the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) since 2017, where he leads international strategy and advocacy for a global network representing over 80 million road users. He has played a key role in strengthening global cooperation on sustainable mobility, road safety, and the rights of road users through FIA Member Clubs and strategic partnerships with multilateral institutions.

Prior to his work at the FIA, Mr. Ammirati spent 12 years at the World Economic Forum, where he was responsible for the Forum’s strategic agenda on Transportation & Logistics and the Automotive sectors. He also held senior roles at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), contributing significantly to the development of global air transport policy and industry alignment on key issues of mobility and connectivity.

Mr. Ammirati has been a prominent advocate for road safety in international forums, actively engaging with institutions such as the UN Road Safety Collaboration, OECD, and World Bank, and helping position FIA as a policy leader in the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.

He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. His academic background and professional experience have enabled him to contribute meaningfully to discussions on sustainable transport, infrastructure financing, and smart mobility.

In recognition of his global advocacy, Mr. Ammirati has participated in high-level advisory boards and expert panels focused on the future of urban mobility and international regulatory alignment in the transport sector.

Ms. Mugione served as a senior official of the United Nations in Geneva. She is a leading economist and international development expert with over 30 years of experience in global policy design, entrepreneurship promotion, and private sector development. She currently serves as Director for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific at the Global Development Solutions Initiative (GDSI), where she oversees regional strategies aimed at fostering inclusive economic growth, enterprise competitiveness, and sustainable development.

From 2006 to 2019, she led the Entrepreneurship Programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), where she coordinated the EMPRETEC programme across more than 40 countries. Under her leadership, EMPRETEC evolved into one of the UN’s flagship initiatives for promoting entrepreneurship, innovation, and capacity building among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Prior to her work at UNCTAD, Ms. Mugione held senior positions at the OECD, UNESCAP, and UNDESA. Throughout her career, she has led more than 30 international programmes in enterprise development, trade, and investment policy, with a strong focus on building enabling environments for inclusive and sustainable economic transformation.

Her work has spanned across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean, where she has contributed to shaping public-private partnerships, enterprise policy reform, and development cooperation initiatives.

Ms. Mugione holds a degree in Economics, with a specialization in international trade and development, and an MBA in International Trade. In addition to her professional work, she is an active mentor, speaker, and advocate for women's economic empowerment.

Mr. Ghory is the Chairman of the SmarterChains Foundation and a senior supply chain executive with over 35 years of experience in the Consumer Goods Industry. He has been the Senior Vice-President of Procter & Gamble Corp and the Chief Operating Officer of Kimberly-Clark Corp.

 He is a champion for sustainable development and brings extensive expertise in operations, innovation, logistics, and work systems, with a strong record of designing business-relevant strategies, building environmentally committed organisations, and developing high-performing teams.

Throughout his international career, Mr. Ghory led both global and regional operations across multiple business units, as well as key supply chain disciplines including Operations, Planning, and Global Manufacturing. His leadership has consistently delivered breakthrough results in operational excellence, helping to accelerate both top- and bottom-line performance while building long-term competitive capabilities.

In 2017, he co-founded SmarterChains SA, a Swiss technology start-up dedicated to helping manufacturers define and execute their digital transformation strategies towards the Factory of the Future. Mr. Ghory is a chemical engineer from Universidad Simón Bolívar.

Professor Lalvani is a former UN diplomat and the founder and Executive Director of The Empower Group, a global organisation specialising in institutional and human resources capacity building. Operating in over 40 countries, Empower has supported more than half a million professionals through digital solutions.

Prof Lalvani has over 25 years of experience working across both developed and developing countries with health and humanitarian organisations, including The Global Fund and WHO. He has advised board members, health ministers, and heads of state on strategy, vision, and impact. Beyond the boardrooms, he has spent years on the ground, navigating the dusty roads and last-mile clinics of Kabul, Port Moresby, Sokoto, and Sana’a.

Organisations that Prof Lalvani has supported through Empower include Ministries of Health in over 30 countries, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, President Kufuor’s Foundation in Ghana, The Global Fund, George Soros’ Open Society Institute, various UN agencies (WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNAIDS), the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, the Asia Pacific Leaders’ Malaria Alliance, and others.