European Union Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates
H.E. Fontana was appointed Ambassador of the European Union to the United Arab Emirates in July 2019. In 2020, Ambassador Fontana was appointed as European Union Commissioner-General for EXPO 2020 Dubai.
From 2015-2019, H.E. Andrea Fontana served as the EU Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Prior to his ambassadorship positions, Mr Fontana served as Head of Unit in the European Commission department dealing with the Eastern Neighbourhood (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine). For five years, he contributed to bringing Eastern Partnership countries closer to the EU, by developing comprehensive co-operation programmes and implementing Association Agreements including deep and comprehensive free trade areas. Ambassador Fontana was also Head of the Economic Reforms Section at the EU Delegation to Russia, and Head of the Economic Cooperation Section at the EU Delegation to Syria, and was desk officer for bilateral relations with Palestine at the European Commission.
H.E. Ambassador Fontana holds a master’s degree in economics from Bocconi University (Milan) where he specialised in transition economics with a thesis on the economic transition of Russia. He completed his studies with courses at Cologne University (Germany), the London School of Economics (UK), the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (USA) and the Centre for Creative Leadership (Belgium).
Counselor, Head of Standards in GCC Standardization Organization (GSO)
Engineer Ahmed Al-Bashah has been working since 2011 in GCC Standardization Organization (GSO), He currently holds the position of Head of Standards Department
Before that, he was working in Yemen "General manager of the Yemen Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control Organization"
Holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and he received many Specialized training programmes, he has extensive experience spanning more than 28 years.
He devoted his professional and technical life in the field of various standardization activities "standard, quality, laboratories, and metrology, inspection and as expert Audit expert in the field of Halal Accreditation.
Al-Basha contributes more flexibly and cooperatively within the GSO team to ensure the Development of the standards.
Contribute to consumer protection and service and meet the needs of GCC states in its fields of his work, contribute to developing appropriate solutions for some industrial sectors, especially in the field of food.
He is a member of several GSO technical committees for the development of the standard and he represents the GSO in many events, and observer membership in CODEX, AIDSMO, SMIIC, and other.
Head of the Trade and Other EU Policies Section at the European Union Delegation to the UAE
Prior to taking up his duties on 1st September 2022 in the European Union Delegation to the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Szelekovszky was working in the Trade Department of the European Commission between 2019 and 2022 covering trade and investment relations with the UAE and other GCC countries and Iran and Iraq.
Between 2015 and 2019, Mr. Szelekovszky served as the Head of the Trade and Economic Section at the EU Delegation in Israel.
Between 2011 and 2015, he was working at the EU Mission to the WTO in Geneva.
Between 2006 and 2011, he was working at the Trade Department of the European Commission dealing with trade defence instruments and bilateral trade and investment relations with Russia.
Between 1991 and 2006, he was working at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Trade and Ministry of Foreign Affairs also serving as diplomat at the Hungarian Permanent Representation to the OECD in Paris (1994-1999) and at the Hungarian Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels (2003-2006).
Mr. Szelekovszky graduated from the Budapest University of Economics with degree in economics and international relations.
Mr. Szelekovszky is married and has six children.
Senior Food Safety Officer, Dubai Municipality
Alyaa AlMahri is a Senior Food Safety Officer in Dubai Municipality she joined Dubai Municipality back in 2016; she was a former Health Educator in Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah. Alyaa was part of number of projects and initiatives related to food safety in Dubai Municipality such as Control from the source initiative in 2018, ZAD federal food safety system Project and Electronic Certificate Integration initiative which was awarded by International Best Practice Competition in 2022. Alyaa currently in charge of 24/7 operation site for food inspection processes located in Cargo Village Terminal.
Agricultural Counsellor, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Embassy of Ireland
Matthew Clarke has over twenty years experience working for the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Matthew is currently Ireland’s Agriculture and Food Counsellor for the GCC countries, acting as a government to government interlocutor. He is based in The Embassy of Ireland to the UAE in Abu Dhabi and has been there since August 2021.
Matthew was previously Ireland’s fisheries attaché in Brussels from 2016 to 2019. From 2019 to 2021 he was Ireland’s Agricultural National Delegate and National Contact Point for Horizon Europe, the EUs research and innovation fund.
He has Masters Degrees in Agricultural Science and in Environmental Protection.
International Relations Officer, European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
Sergio Pavon works in Brussels at the European Commission (Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development) as an expert in international negotiation issues.
Part of his professional career was developed in the Directorate-General (DG) for Foreign Trade (exports of agri-food products) and in the DG for Health and Consumer Protection (audits, animal identification and traceability).
He has been the spokesman of the European Commission to several International Organizations (World Trade Organization, FAO, ISO, UNCTAD, STDF, etc.)
Head of Unit for Policy Perspectives, European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
Gijs Schilthuis is the Head of Unit for Policy Perspectives at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. He has worked since 2008, in different capacities, on agricultural policy reform in this Directorate-General. He first joined the European Commission in 2005 at the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers. Prior to joining the Commission, he worked at the European Parliament as a parliamentary assistant. He earned a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from Wageningen University in 2000. He is a Dutch national.
Senior Expert, European Commission, Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development
Lionel Mesnildrey is Senior Expert in the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development in the European Commission, working on food security. He was previously Head of the Economic and Trade Affairs Section and Agriculture Counsellor at the EU Delegation to the United Kingdom from 2020 to 2022, and before that Deputy Head of the Unit dealing with relations with Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He has acquired since 2004 a sound experience in international affairs in the agricultural area, having previously been in charge of relations with Near and Middle East and Latin America. He was directly involved in the negotiations between the EU and a large number of countries in these regions, in particular with respect to market access and geographical indications. Previously, he worked on the EU plant health legislation, first as an auditor in the then Food and Veterinary office in Dublin and then in European Commission headquarters in Brussels. Before joining the European Commission in 1997, he was employed in a private company dealing with agri-input business based in French West Indies.
Professor, European College of Parma
Patrick Deboyser is Professor at the European College of Parma, where he is teaching on Food Law and Pharmaceutical Law.
Previously, he has lectured on EU Law at the University of Brussels and at the University of Louvain.
From 1984 to 2018, he was an official of the European Commission, where he held various positions including: Head of Pharmaceuticals, Head of Cosmetics, Head of Food Law and Biotechnology, Adviser to the Director-General of DG SANTE and Minister-Counsellor at the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand.
International Relations Officer, European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
Mr. Gadzinowski joined the European Commission in 2009. Since 2015 he has been working at the International Relations Department of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. He has been involved in negotiating trade agreements and developing cooperation with the North African countries (Algeria, Tunisia), the GCC countries as well as Jordan, Iraq and Iran.
Mr. Gadzinowski graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the Maastricht University with degrees in international relations and European public affairs.
Senior Expert, European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade
Hans Joostens is a doctor in veterinary medicine with an additional master degree in food hygiene and food technologies. He is employed by the European Commission since 2002, where he first worked as an auditor to verify the implementation of EU legislation on Sanitary and Phytosanitary matters (SPS) by carrying out many audits in EU Member States and in trading partners exporting to the EU.
Since 2007, he works in the Directorate-General for TRADE of the Commission, within the unit dealing with SPS related EU market access issues, mainly covering countries in Asia, central Europe, the Gulf countries and North American countries. He has been involved in negotiations of several EU free trade agreements and their implementation. He is a senior trade expert within the European Commission.
Head of Unit, European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
Elena Panichi joined the European Commission in 2007. For the last five years, she has held the position of Deputy Head of Unit at the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. In her role, she has been particularly active in finalising the legislative reform of the organic sector, fighting fraud in organics and promoting European organic products in third countries. Prior to that, she worked for several years as Trade and Market Analyst in different departments of the Commission. She is an Italian national and an agronomist by education, holding a PhD from the Polytechnic University of Marche.
Policy Officer, European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety
Dr Sylvie Coulon is a veterinarian and received her diploma at Maisons Alfort (France). She has worked in DG SANTE (DG for Health and Food Safety) since 2002. The Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety is responsible for EU policy on food safety and health and for monitoring the implementation of related laws within the EU. After years of serving as a vet practitioner in rural areas, she worked for 10 years in the French Ministry of Agriculture at a regional and central level, namely in the area of food safety. She served as Deputy Agricultural Attaché at the French Embassy in London for two years before joining DG SANTE in 2002, holding various positions in the unit in charge of National Residues Programmes, the RASFF system, international multilateral relations and food hygiene. She now works in the unit responsible for international bilateral relations where she is primarily responsible for all East Asian countries, except China/Japan, and deals with all aspects related to SPS issues in DG SANTE.
Policy Officer in Food Law and Regulatory Affairs, European Dairy Association
Julia Faure is a French and German lawyer specialised in European and international law with a focus on public health and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). She studied law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and at the University of Kent, where she obtained her LLM. Julia joined the European Dairy Association’s Food, Environment and Health Team in January 2022 and is now working there as a Policy Officer in Food Law and Regulatory Affairs.
General Delegate, Freshfel Europe
Philippe Binard is a Belgian national born in 1961 and has a legal background from the University of Leuven (1984).
Philippe Binard joined the fresh fruit and vegetable business in 1987. Since 2002, he has served as the General Delegate of Freshfel Europe, the association representing the interests of the fresh fruit and vegetable sector at the European level. Freshfel (www.freshfel.org) was launched as the single platform for the European fresh fruit and vegetable sector. Today, Freshfel Europe incorporates more than 200 members (associations and companies) across the chain, from production to retail, within a fresh produce business worth €200 billion. Alongside its members, Freshfel Europe closely follows EU agriculture, trade, food and plant safety policy as well as sustainability developments. Freshfel also engages in promotional activities and issues an annual Consumption Monitor.
On behalf of Freshfel Europe, Philippe Binard sits on various advisory and expert committees of the European Commission, actively participates in the activities of several fruit and vegetable organisations, and regularly speaks at conferences on a wide variety of topics relevant for the fresh fruit and vegetable sector.
Interprofessional Association of Olive Oil Producers
Teresa Perez Millán is an agricultural engineer with a Bachelor’s degree from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. She is a specialist in agri-business and executive management. She is also an expert in olive oil with 20 years’ experience in Italy and Spain.
She has been the General Manager of the Interprofessional Olive Oil Organization since 2008. She works with governing bodies in the industry on strategy and management. More specifically, she focuses on the implementation of information and promotion programmes in more than 30 countries, as well as R&D&I projects.
Teresa Perez Millán is the representative of the Organization on the Advisory Committee of the International Olive Council (IOC). She represents the Interprofessional Olive Oil Organization for all activity development, especially with regard to marketing and programmes co-funded by the EU and Spain, and also on other projects such as the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Pilot on Olive Oil.
Deputy Secretary General, CLITRAVI (Liaison Centre for the Meat Processing Industry in the European Union)
Paolo Patruno, born in Italy in 1984, graduated with 110/110 in Law at Trento University (Italy).
He is Deputy Secretary General of CLITRAVI, the European Association representing the meat processing industry, and Visiting Professor of Food Legislation. He served as a Legal and European Affairs Manager at Federalimentare, the Italian Food Industry Federation and worked for Confindustria, Italian Small Business in Europe and a primary law firm.
He is active in several European Commission Advisory Groups and Civil Dialogue Groups, as well as within the International Meat Secretariat and FoodDrinkEurope.
Senior Policy Advisor for UECBV for International Meat Trade
Arne Mielken is UECBV's Senior Policy Advisor for Internationa Meat Trade. He is an accredited customs & global trade practitioner and advises Europe's meat and other agri-food businesses on export sales opportunities and customs clearance optimisation strategies. He holds a BA (Hons) in International Business and Modern Languages, an MA in European Policy Making and an Executive MBA. He is a member of the EU's Trade Contact Group (TCG) of DG TAXUD. He often speaks at public events and writes on meat, agrifood, customs and global trade topics. He speaks German, English, French and Spanish.
Economist, Chief Counsellor and Head of Market access and Trade Policy for the poultry and egg sector at the Danish Agriculture & Food Council
Stig Munck Larsen has been working with the poultry sector for the last 10 years promoting the Danish and the EU poultry meat export and representing the EU Association of Poultry Processors and Trade, AVEC, as Board Member and chair of the committee on Trade and Promotion.
He was previously a senior official in the Danish Ministry of Business and Growth representing Denmark in various trade negotiations in the European Council and being posted at the Danish Representation to the EU in Bruxelles.
Senior Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Manager, CAOBISCO (The Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery)
Eleonora Alquati holds a Master degree in Molecular Nutrition and Food Toxicology obtained at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and a Bachelor degree in Human Nutrition obtained at Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”.
Eleonora is currently Senior Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Manager at CAOBISCO – The Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries in Europe. She joined CAOBISCO in 2019.
Previously, she was Regulatory Affairs Officer for Food Safety and Quality at the European Cocoa Association and interned at EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, in the food additives team.
Master of Ceremony
Entrepreneur, dietitian, food blogger and home cook, Nicole Maftoum is the founder of Eat Like Nicole. She was born and raised in a house where cooking and eating were the essence of showing love and celebrating life in all its forms. Inspired from her parents' passion, she started mixing, matching and creating recipes at the age of 10 when she baked a cake for the first time.
In addition to being a Clinical Dietitian and enabling Dietetic consultations to her patients in her Clinic, she is a Business and Communication Dietitian, with a weekly presence on Lebanese TV and Radio stations (for the past 11 year) sharing tips and recipes throughout her segments. And as a Nutrition columnist for several Lebanese magazines, she covers the latest trends in the nutrition and food industry.
Mixing and matching unusual ingredients together is her forte, bringing out delicious and unique flavors. And reducing food waste in one of the big highlighted titles she constantly focuses on and keeps on coming up with up-cycled and pocket-friendly food recipes.
Professional Chef
Junior Nadje is a French Chef who has a strong experience working with some of the best Michelin starred Chefs throughout his career. Passion, creativity and Haute gastronomy is something that has always been a driving force for him. Junior believes that the simplest ingredients can create an emotion when used right, and this is why he loves cooking with European products. To him, European products offer the best in terms of taste and flavors.