Proceedings: The Future of Oil in the Middle East: Building Diversified Economies in an Age of Energy Transition

Mehmet has a good understanding of the oil, gas and power business along the value chain. He has deep experience of complex restructuring and special situations, M&A, debt/equity capital markets, as well as the ability to balance seemingly unresolvable conflicting interests is impressive. He has been a trusted advisor to many Boards and Governments over many years.

Currently, Mehmet chairs Global Resources Partnership, a UK strategic advisory group and serves as Special Envoy of The International Energy Charter for MENA Region and Chair of The Bosphorus Energy Club and The London Energy Club, which are exclusive gatherings of the senior executives and leaders in finance, energy and politics across the world.

Previously, he was an advisor to the late Turkish prime minister Turgut Ozal; as a diplomat, contributed to improving Turkey’s relations with Europe in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup, designed and helped execution of the trade and investment volume expansion between Turkey and China while in the Turkish Embassy in Beijing (1989-1991), worked as a senior executive for International Energy Agency and OECD in Paris and then joined British Gas Group (now part of Shell). He served on the advisory boards of multinational energy, high-tech, speed train, cyber-security, strategic communications and financial services companies such as Invensys, Dimetronics, Windsor Energy Group, and KCS Security.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Sieminski was Deutsche Bank’s chief energy economist and the senior energy analyst for NatWest Securities. In 2006, he was appointed to the National Petroleum Council (NPC), where he helped co-author NPC’s global oil and gas study.

Mr. Sieminski’s membership of leading policy and research organizations includes the roles of senior fellow and former president of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics, and president of the U.S. National Association of Petroleum Investment Analysts.

He formerly served as an advisory board member of the Global Energy and Environment Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, as chairman of the Supply-Demand Committee of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and as a member of the Strategic Energy Task Force of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and holds both an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in public administration from Cornell University.

Prior to assuming this post he led UNDP’s Program of Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR), where he established a working team analyzing and advocating for governance reform in the Arab region. Before joining UNDP, Adel served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt from 1979 through 1998, occupying senior posts in various countries and earning the rank of Ambassador in 2004. He holds a doctoral degree in Political Economy, in addition to a diploma in Diplomatic Studies, awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, as well as a diploma in International Trade, from the General Agreement for Trade & Tariffs in Geneva.

Dr. Meidan is an authority on China. She headed cross-commodity China research at Energy Aspects and headed an independent energy-focused consultancy called China Matters. Her roles expand analytical and teaching positions at various organisations.

Mr. Feierstein also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. He holds a bachelors degree from Point Park College and a masters from Duquesne University.

From 2005 to 2012, he worked at the Central Bank of Morocco (Bank Al-Maghrib) where he served as Director of Economics, Statistics and International Relations. He was also in charge of the Research Department and was a member of the cabinet of the Governor. Prior to joining Bank Al-Maghrib, Karim El Aynaoui worked for eight years at the World Bank, as an Economist within the Middle East, North Africa, and Africa regions.