This session will include formal opening remarks from the event’s host, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the IGF Secretariat, followed by keynote speeches to set the stage for the 21st IGF Annual General Meeting (AGM) reflecting the AGM’s theme: Value Beyond Extraction: Rethinking Mining for a Resilient Future.

Official opening

• Isabelle Ramdoo, Director, IGF Secretariat
• Nathalie Bernasconi, Vice-President, IISD
• Luz Maria de la Mora, Director, Division on International Trade and Commodities, UNCTAD
• Mohato Moima, Chair, IGF Executive Committee

High-level panel discussion

• Luz Maria de la Mora, Director, Division on International Trade and Commodities, UNCTAD
• Hon. Abdulrahman Al-Belushi, Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources Management, Ministry of Industry & Mineral Resources, Saudi Arabia
• Prof. Jean-Marie Kanda, Special Advisor to the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Robert Schlotterer, Manager & Global Head, Extractives Industries, Energy & Extractives, World Bank

Master of Ceremony: Tracey Cooper