Financing the development: The challenge of implementing SDGs

Ambassador Katakami first entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1980 and was appointed Ambassador of Japan to the European Union in 2014. He was previously Director General of the Economic Affairs Bureau in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Commissioner Mimica was first appointed to the European Commission in 2013 as the Commissioner for Consumer Policy. He has served as the Croatian Deputy Prime Minister for Internal, Foreign and European Policy and held a number of positions relating to foreign relations and trade, including Chief Negotiator for Croatia’s accession to the WTO.

Okamura is responsible for development partnerships with bilateral and multilateral institutions, and for loan assistance at JICA. He was previously Director General of the Operations Strategy Department and spent a number of years as Chief Representative of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to France.

Prior to his current appointment in 2014, Guicquéro spent 6 years as Deputy Director of the Asia Department. He has also held numerous positions both within the AFD Group as well as in local agencies in French Guyana, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

Schütte started his career as a Project Manager in the International Labour Organization. He later held a number of positions at the KfW Development Bank, including Country Director for Kenya and Vice President and Division Chief for Financial and Private Sector Development, Asia.

Formerly a Member of the Portuguese Parliament, Silva Pereira was elected to the European Parliament in 2014. In addition to Vice-Chair of the European Parliament Constitutional Affairs Committee, he is a member of the Committee on Development and Rapporteur on Financing for Development.

An economist by training, Dr. Kamara was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in 2012. Prior to this, he served as Minister of Finance and Economic Development and Governor of the Central Bank of Sierra Leone.

In her current role, Rüttgers deals with matters such as management of the ACP Investment Facility, the business plan among other policy and institutional matters. Prior to this, she spent 16 years in the Operational Department as a loan officer in the West Africa, North Africa and Indian Ocean regions.

In addition to her role at EURODAD, Ryding is a member of the coordination committee of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice. She follows the UN negotiations on financing for development, with a special focus on tax justice, debt and private finance. She was previously climate political coordinator at Greenpeace International.

As a Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Tomonori conducts research on environment and climate change, including climate change finance. He has previously worked for the African Development Bank and the OECD, and currently serves as Adviser to the Office for Global Issues and Development Partnership in the Operations Strategy Department, JICA.

McCrimmon has held a number of positions at SABMiller, including Policy Manager and Global Head of Licence to Trade. She was appointed Head of Public Affairs, Europe in 2012.

Mkhabela previously worked for the UNDP, helping to establish a presence in South Africa, and played a leading role in the establishment of the National Development Agency. In her current role, she also heads the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust.