Opening Session - Materials
- Ouided Bouchamaoui:
Prof. Bouchamaoui's biography:
"Born in Gabes, Tunisia, Mrs. Ouided Bouchamaoui became the first woman elected as President of the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (Confederation of Private Employers) in 2011.
Ouided is a Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet member, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 for successfully facilitating the presidential and legislative elections and ratifying the new Constitution in 2014.
She committed to representing her country, Tunisia, considered an exception in the Arab and Muslim world, to share this remarkable story, which the Nobel Peace Prize jury called a "success story." Through her various speeches and interventions, Ouided explained how such an experience could foster expertise in dialogue and mediation by reinventing codes, demanding new approaches to action, and establishing new frameworks for considering politics in the noble sense of the word, which is citizen action in service to the common good.
In 2013, under the G8 Deauville Partnerships, she was awarded the title “Best Businesswoman of the Arab World,” and Jeune Afrique recognized her as one of the Top 25 Business Women in Africa.
Ouided is a member of the Board of Directors for the U.N. University of Peace in Costa Rica, and she serves as the Vice President of the European Center for Peace and Development. In April 2024, she commenced her appointment at NYUAD as a Professor of Practice in Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution."
- Evarist Bartolo:
1984. – 2017: Lectured in Media Studies at the University of Malta
In this period worked as a TV Journalist and as a News Editor.
Served as a Commonwealth Election Observer in Kenya (August 2022). Speaker in international conferences in several countries, including Italy, Turkey, Poland, Shanghai, France, Egypt, Rwanda, Libya, and Jordan.
Campaigned successfully for the introduction of divorce and civil rights and marriage equality in Malta; for good governance: Ombudsman, Freedom of Information Act, Commissioner for Standards in Public Life; Abolition of Censorship and Better Protection for Journalists.
Opening of child care centres; getting unemployed and disabled people into work, literacy programmes, life skills for disadvantaged students, and accredited work-based learning in Malta.
As Foreign and European Affairs Minister promoted relations between the EU and the Mediterranean and the EU and Africa. Promoted also the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons, promoted conflict resolution through the values of mediation, negotiations, and peacebuilding, democracy, and human rights.
