Dr. Rola Dashti MP
Parliament:
Kuwaiti Parliament
Political Party:
Independent Dr. Rola Dashti, a winner of a Global Citizens award for 2009, and King Hussein Humanitarian award for year 2005, listed among the top 20 businesswomen in the Arab World by Financial Times and among the world’s 100 most powerful Arabs in 2007 and 2008 by Arabian Business, and is a member of the advisory council for Arab Human Development Report for 2009 (Human Security in the Arab World).
Dr. Dashti lobbied for the May 2005 decree allowing Kuwaiti women to vote and run for parliamentary elections for the first time. She was the first woman to file her papers at the election department, when the registration opened, and she herself was a candidate in the 2006 parliamentary election. In the 2009 parliamentary elections she and three other women won seats to become the first women to enter the Kuwaiti parliament setting the stage to deepening the role of women in politics and decision making.
Mr. Herman De Croo MP
Parliament:
Belgian Parliament
Political Party:
Flemish Liberal Party Mr. De Croo was first elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1968 for the PVV-PLP. He has since served in various governments as minister of Transport and Foreign Trade; minister of Transport, Postal Services, Telegraphy and Telephony; minister of Education and minister of Postal Services, Telegraphy, Telephony and Pensions. From 1999 till July 2007 Mr. De Croo was the president of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, the owner house of the Belgian Federal Parliament. He is the current mayor of Brakel. He became State Minister in 1998 and is currently the Vice-President of the Belgian Federal Parliament and has been President of the Federal Advisory Committee on European Affairs since 1999.
Mr. François-Xavier de Donnea MP
Parliament:
Belgian House of Representatives
Political Party:
Mouvement Réformateur Mr. de Donnea is currently Minister of State and Member of the Belgian House of Representatives. He serves as chair or member of several intergovernmental delegations and institutes and is also Professor Emeritus at the University of Louvain. Throughout his career, Mr. de Donnea has served in a variety of roles in public service and academia—as Secretary of State for Development Cooperation, Minister of Defence, Member of the Belgian Parliament, Member of the European Parliament, Mayor of Brussels, and Professor of economics and public management at the University of Louvain.
Mr. Wouter De Vriendt MP
Parliament:
Belgian Federal Parliament
Political Party:
Green Party Mr. De Vriendt is a Flemish politician and member of the "Groen!" party - a Flemish, progressive and green political party, whose sister party is the Francophone Ecolo party. Mr. De Vriendt holds graduate degrees in political science and European Political and International Cooperation. From 2002-2005, Mr. De Vriendt worked as a policy offer for the Groen! party. He later worked as a research worker and an attaché in the Flemish parliament. He lives in Oostende, where he also a municipality Council member.
Ambassador Gary Doer
In October, 2009, Gary Doer assumed his responsibilities as Canada’s 23rd representative to the United States of America.Prior to taking up his current position in Washington, Ambassador Doer served as Premier of Manitoba for ten years. During that time, he worked extensively with U.S. Governors to enhance Canada-U.S. cooperation on trade, agriculture, water protection, climate change and renewable energy.
Ambassador Doer won three consecutive elections as Premier of Manitoba with successive increased majorities. In 2005, he was named by Business Week magazine as one of the top 20 international leaders on climate change. His government introduced balanced budgets during each of his ten years in office while reducing many taxes, including a plan to eliminate small business tax. As Premier, he led strategic investments in health care, education, and training and infrastructure. Ambassador Doer hails from Winnipeg. He is married with two daughters.
