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BORN in Edegem, Belgium on April 29, 1941
MARRIED to Yolaine de Villegas, Belgian citizen
UNIVERSITY
DEGREES
Bachelor
of Economics and of Applied Economics (U. of Louvain,
Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium).
MBA
(U. of California, Berkeley)
Ph.D.
in Economics (Erasmus Universiteit, Rotterdam)
LANGUAGES SPOKEN
French,
Dutch, English, Spanish; passive knowledge of German.
PRESENT
FUNCTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Minister
of State (Member of the Crown Council);
Member
of the Belgian House of Representatives;
Chairman of the
Committee on
Foreign Affairs;
Head
of the Belgian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly;
President of Sahel and West Africa Club (OECD)
www.ocde.org/CSAO
;
Vice-President and Former President of the Belgian delegation to
the Inter-parliamentary Union;
Chairman
of MEDEA (Research Institute on Euro-Arab Dialogue) www.medeainstitute.org
;
Member
of the Board of the Royal Institute for International Relations
(Belgium);
Member
of the Strategic Council of the “Université Saint
Joseph”, Beyrouth, Lebanon;
Member
of the board of "Africa
Conservation Fund" (UK) www.acfvirunga.org
Member
of the board of "Wildlifedirect"
(USA);
Professor
Emeritus of the University of Louvain;
Member of the Board of OGEO Fund.
PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE
1.
BELGIAN PUBLIC SECTOR.
Member
of the Belgian Parliament (I981-1989, 1991-2000 and again
since 2003).
Chairman
of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives (1995-1998);
Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Budget since 2003;
Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Secretary
of State for Development Cooperation (1983-1985).
Minister
of Defence (1985-1988).
Mayor
of the City of Brussels (1995-2000).
Minister-President
of the Brussels- Capital Region –also in charge of
Scientific Research (2000-2003).
2.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.
Member of the European Parliament (1989-1991).
President of the EU Council of Ministers on Research
during the Belgian Presidency of July-December 2001.
President
of the Belgian delegation to the Inter-parliamentary Union
(IPU) (2003-2007);
Rapporteur :
*of the First Standing Committee (Peace and
International Security) of IPU, on the "Trafficking of small
arms and light weapons", in
2005-2006
*of the Second Standing Committee (Sustainable
Development, Finance and Trade), on
“Parliamentary Oversight of State Policies on Foreign
Aid”, in 2007-2008
*of the Second Standing Committee (Sustainable
Development, Finance and Trade), on "The Role of
Parliaments in developing South-South and triangular
cooperation", in 2008-2009.
Chairman, on behalf of Belgium, of the 62nd plenary meeting of
UNECE, Geneva, spring 2007.
3.
PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS.
Professor
of Economics and Public Management at the University of
Louvain (Full time 1971-1981; part time 1982-1997)
Chairman of the Board of the public television broadcast
station “Télé Bruxelles” (1995-97).
Member of the Board of Crédit Communal de
Belgique and Crédit Local de France which merged into Dexia
(1992-2000).
DECORATIONS
1.
BELGIUM
Grand
Cross of the Order of Leopold II
Grand Officer of the order of Leopold
First Class Civic Cross
2.
Other countries
Cavaliere
di Gran Croce, Ordine “Al Merito della Repubblica
Italiana”
Grand Cross, Royal Order of the Polar Star, Sweden
Grand Cross, Royal Norwegian Order of Merit
Grand Cross, Royal Order of Dannebrog, Denmark
Gwanghwa Medal (Grand Cross), Order of Diplomatic Service
Merit (Republic of Korea)
Grand Cross , Orden al Merito Civil Libertador Simon Bolivar
(Bolivia)
Grosses Verdienstkreuz mit Stern, Verdienstordens der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Officer, Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur, France
Grand Officer, Ordre National du Mérite, France
Encomienda de Numero (Grand Officer), Orden de Isabel la
Catolica, Spain
Grand Officer, Ordre Grand-Ducal de la Couronne de Chêne,
Luxemburg
Commander, National Order of Ivory Coast
Etc…
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