Highlights

Chair

 Blanca Moreno-Dodson

Blanca Moreno-Dodson is the Manager of the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI), a partnership between the World Bank and several national, regional, and local authorities from around the Mediterranean, as well as international financial institutions and civil society.

She has over twenty-eight years of experience as a World Bank development economist, including several positions as Lead Economist, mainly for the Global Tax Team, the West Africa Region, the Investment Climate Department, and the Office of the Vice-President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management. As a Senior Economist, she previously worked at the World Bank Institute, the West Africa Region, and the Corporate Strategy Group of the World Bank. Her regional experience includes the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia (China, India, and Indonesia). She started her career as a Robert Shuman scholar at the European Parliament and as a junior economist at the European Commission, before joining the World Bank Group.

Moreno-Dodson authored and co-authored five books throughout her career including “Enhancing Mediterranean Integration” (CMI, 2020), “Winning the Tax Wars, Tax Competition, and Cooperation” (Wolters Kluwer, 2017), “Is Fiscal Policy the Answer? A Developing Country Perspective” (World Bank, 2013), “Public Finance for Poverty Reduction. Case Studies for Africa and Latin America” (World Bank, 2006) and “Scaling Up Poverty Reduction” (World Bank, 2005). She has also been published in several internationally renowned economic journals, such as the Bulletin of Economic Research, Hacienda Pública Española, the USA National Tax Association Journal, and Banca d'Italia Annual Volumes.

She is a member of the Alumni Strategic Council of the Aix-Marseille University, France, and of the Steering Committee of the Navarra Center for International Development, Spain, and a guest lecturer at Duke University, USA, and Aix-Marseille University, France.

Moreno-Dodson holds a Ph.D. as well as a Masters (Diplome D’Etudes Approfondies) in International Economics and Finance from the University of Aix-Marseille, France, in addition to a Masters (Licenciatura) in Economics from the University Autonomous of Madrid, Spain. Originally from Zaragoza, Spain, she is fluent in Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese.

Presentation

 Simon Müller

Simon Müller currently works as an independent consultant for international organizations and NGOs. In addition to the World Bank, his clients include the German Climate-Neutrality Foundation, which develops policy pathways for a fully climate-neutral economy with a focus on Germany. He also advises the Climate-Alliance Germany as part of its work for the German National Hydrogen Council.

From 2019-2021, he headed the sector coupling business of ENERTRAG, where he was responsible for the global portfolio of green hydrogen projects across transport and industry. Previously, he spent nine years at the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, where he served as the first Head of the System Integration of Renewables Unit and was responsible for coordinating the agency’s Power System Transformation in Emerging Economies work. Simon studied psychology and physics in Oldenburg, Bremen, and Berlin. 

National Strategies

 Isabel Cabrita

Chemical Engineer with a Ph.D. from Sheffield University, in UK, is a research Coordinator at the Directorate General of Energy and Geology in Portugal, holding the position of Head of Division for Research, Studies and Renewables. Internationally, she has been involved in various committees and networks, noting the vice-chairmanship of the Committee on Energy Research and Technology (CERT) in IEA, from 2005 to 2010, and at present in EU, she is actively involved in the activities of the EU Strategic Programme of SET-Plan, namely those regarding a Clean Energy Transition with a vision for carbon neutrality.  

With a focus on thermochemical conversion processes, she has devoted her life to Science, promoting R&D for disruptive and new energy solutions to ensure clean, sustainable and affordable energy solutions in the future including hydrogen production and combustion. In this context, she has been working nationally and internationally, having also ample experience in the area of scientific management and international cooperation. She was responsible for implementing research in the Directorate-General of Energy and Geology in Portugal to aid decision making and policy definition, challenge she took in 2015, where since then various strategic and prospective studies have been carried out, noting the relevant work performed related to the Portuguese Energy and Climate Plan, the Hydrogen National Strategy, among others. 

Ahmed Osama Abdulrahman

Ahmed is a seasoned young professional in Egypt’s oil & gas sector with over 16 years of experience in managing execution of oil & gas projects in Egypt. Ahmed’s leadership of project teams was pivotal in achieving successful start-up of flagship oil, gas & petrochemical projects in Egypt, which contributed towards meeting domestic energy demand and achieving self-sufficiency in gas. He was selected as a member of Egypt’s oil & gas modernization project’s team to participate in crafting the project’s vision, and subsequently, he joined Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources to partake in overseeing the project’s implementation. He currently leads the Strategy and Technical Affairs Unit in the Ministry’s Technical Office.

Ahmed holds a Mechanical Engineering degree, Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and an MBA from the American University in Cairo. He additionally holds a Master of Philosophy degree in Engineering For Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge. Thereafter, he completed modules of the International Program on Cleaner Production, Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

He has also published peer reviewed papers about improving sustainability of Egypt’s oil and gas sector, and the role of biomass in Egypt’s energy mix.

In 2018, he was shortlisted among three finalists for the UK Alumni Professional Achievement award in Egypt.