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Draft:Ahmed Jehani

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Ahmed Jehani in 2018

Dr Ahmed Jehani (Arabic: أحمد جهاني) is an international lawyer and economist who served as the Minister of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Libya during the revolution.[1] During the revolution, he was also a Chairman of the Stabilization Teams for the Free Libya and Co-Founder & Vice Chairman of the Foundation for Rehabilitation of victims of the Libyan revolution, based in Malta. Prior to this, for over thirty years Dr. Jehani worked at the World Bank in a variety of capacities, including Senior Advisor to the Board of Directors, Country Director in the Caucasus Region, negotiator and policy advisor.[2]

At present, he spent the last seven years as Chairman and Managing Director of an advisory company which is a subsidiary of Libya's sovereign wealth fund, Libyan Investment Authority (LIA). Additionally, he was a member of its litigation committee. He was heavily involved in the lawsuits against Goldman Sachs[3] and Société Générale, where in the latter case he managed to reach a settlement of €963m.[4] He is still involved in a long running and historic lawsuit against Palladyne.[5] He is also a consultant to Chatham House and to ESCWA. In regards to the latter, he is the Lead Expert working on the Libya Socioeconomic Dialogue Project, where he has written a vision for Libya.

He is a Managing Director of the Economic Consulting Bureau (ECB) which was involved with International Trade and Arbitration in front of international tribunals such as the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID, panel member since 2005 until present) in Washington DC, and Chairman & Founder of the Libyan Development Policy Centre, a think tank which was associated with the World Economic Forum (WEF), Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), World Bank (WB), & International Monetary Fund. He also worked as a consultant to numerous governments and international organizations.

He was a Visiting Scholar of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC, USA and Beirut, Lebanon, where his research focused on law, economics, and the energy sector in Libya and the wider North African region. He is also a Member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Commission in respect of financing development for the Sustainable Development Goals for 2015/2025.[citation needed]

Early Life and Education

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Ahmed Jehani was born in Benghazi in 1946. [6] He is the son of Massouda Kadiki and Mohamed Jehani. He is the first person from his family to go to school and university. He completed his formal education in Libya, concluding with an LLB from the University of Libya - Faculty of Law in 1969.[2] Continuing to pursue his greater academic ambition he went to the USA where he completed his Juris Doctor and LLM from Harvard Law School in 1973, and subsequently his MA in Law and Diplomacy and Phd from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1978.

Between 1967 and 1971, Jehani served as an Oil Sector Legal Counsel where he occupied various technical positions with two major oil companies EXXON and BP. From 1971 to 1979, he was General Counsel to the Libyan national oil company subsidiary, AGOCO, which was involved in petroleum production and marketing of nearly half a million barrels a day at the time.

Career

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Jehani worked for 30 years at the World Bank (WB) in Washington DC, serving as a Manager, Counsel, Adviser, and Member of the Board of Directors. [7] From 1979 to 2003, he worked as a WB negotiator, policy advisor and framer of hundreds of international agreements in different parts of the world in a variety of transactions relating to economic development; and at times held the following Advisory positions for the WB Group:

  • Advisor for Energy and Mining for all WB's activities in the energy sector worldwide
  • Advisor to the group designing the WB's involvement in the financial sector of member countries
  • Advisor on banking, capital markets and central banking, and
  • Advisor on WB borrowing activities in security markets worldwide.

Some of the countries he worked in are:

  • South Asia: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Maldives, and Bhutan.
  • East Asia: Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Western Samoa
  • Former Soviet Union: Russia, Romania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and Tajikistan
  • Balkans: Albania, Kosovo and worked on the Dayton Agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • South America: Argentina, and Venezuela
  • Sub-Saharan Africa: Chad and Cameroon
  • Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya,Yemen and Turkey.

From 2003 to 2005, he was the WB Country Director in the Caucasus Region responsible for dialogue with the Central Asian Countries and the portfolios of WB funded projects. He was stationed in Baku, Azerbaijan during this period. He cooperated with the Azeri Government, in order to provide financial and technical assistance. He described his greatest accomplishment, when working in Azerbaijan, as being able to "establish sound economic stability" and doubling the annual GDP growth rate.[8]

After returning to Washington DC in 2005, he served as Senior Advisor to the WB Board of Directors in charge of overseeing a various activities including Board operations and international development policies and initiatives until 2007.

In 2007, he moved to Libya where he was a Consultant, in association with EY, to the Economic Development Board (EDB),[9] which is the economic policy ministerial group of Libya and the Public Projects Authority (PPA) where he spearheaded major reform initiatives, with mixed results on the ground due to lack of political will and naturally led to the uprising of February 17, 2011.

Libyan Revolution

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As mentioned Jehani served as a Minister of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction. He was responsible, as put in his on words, for instituting "a constitution by a representative authority, the approval of the constitution by a popular referendum and, then, for the first time in Libya’s history, holding free elections for a representative government."[10] He was also the Chairman of the Stabilization teams for the Free Libya (composed of about 70 young Libyan international experts, who drew contingency plans and ‘what if’ scenarios in close collaboration with the Contact Group under the UN Security Council Resolutions, regarding the protection of civilians during the Libyan uprising.

He co-hosted a panel with Aref Ali Nayed, Libyan Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, to tackle problems of democracy, investment and the unblocking of Libyan funds held abroad.[11] In this panel, he denounced the revolution, claiming that already "300,000 men would need to be rehabilitated". He stated that "due process" would be extended to people on both ends of the conflict, including the forces on behalf of the regime. He also first announced that a "200-member constituent assembly would be formed" to draft a constitution in 3 months.[12]

In September, he was interviewed by Reteurs to describe how Libya would try to get back on its feet after declining from 1.6 million barrels of oil exported to just 100,000. He underlined the importance of unfreezing Libya-owned assets, veering away from taking loans as much as possible. He explained that there has not been "major damage", with the major obstacle being getting back "our (LIbya's) own money".[13]

He took part in an interview with the BBC in 2011, as the head of the Libyan Stabilisation Team at the country's National Transitional Council (NTC), where he expressed his priority to help unfreeze $100bn worth of LIbyan assets held abroad.[14]

Jehani was also responsible for hosting a discussion with Carnegie Middle East Center to discuss the significance of Libya's first election in 2012.[15]

Libyan Investment Authority

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Having previously worked with the Azeri government and getting crucial experience with how oil revenue should be spent to provide long-term growth fo the country, going as far to say "If the country relies just on oil revenues then other industries will simply wither away" when being interviewed by the BBC in 2007[16], he was appointed by the LIA as director to help invest the assets of Libya to improve the state of the country. The assets have been reported to total $700 million, but the process has been mired in a prolonged legal battle.[17]

ESCWA

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From 2020, Jehani is leading a panel of multidisciplinary experts “Expert Working Groups” (EWG) which are working on the Libya Socioeconomic Dialogue Project. The focus is the implementation of Libya's socioeconomic dialogue and its activities in an assigned functional area.

Philanthropy

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Jehani has devoted his free time to help build a future for Libya and its citizens. He created the Libyan Economic Agreement, which proposes an economic framework for Libya based on citizen's rights. The new national constitution would require the government to distribute 50 percent of annual oil revenues directly to the people and dismantle the system of wages and subsidies. Similar schemes exist in other resource-rich jurisdictions like Norway and Alaska.[18]

Visiting Lecturer

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Jehani taught classes (mostly short seminars and workshops) on law and economics at the Universities of Dundee (UK), Lieden (Netherlands), George Washington and Tufts (USA), and the International Development Law Organization (Rome, Italy). He was a lecturer on global governance issues at the Universities of George Mason and Oklahoma State (USA). He also served for over ten years at the editorial board of the Journal of Energy and Natural Resources and Chaired the American Society of International Law Panel on Corruption and International Law.

Publications

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Books

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  • Globalizing Justice: Deficiencies in the Quest and Discontents of World Development (2009)[19]
  • OPEC and International Law (2010)[19]
  • A New Start For Libya (2018)[20]

Monographs

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  • Tripoli Needs More Than Threats to Rein in Armed Militias[21]
  • Speech at the United States Institute of Peace in 2011[22]
  • Moving Libya Post-Conflict from Economics of Chaos...to Economics of Stabilisation - From Chaos Based Rentierism...to Rights-based Rentierism[23]

Videos and film clips

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  • 2011: Jehani speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Dead Sea, Jordan.[24][25][26][27][28][29]
  • 2011: Jehani speaking to Reuters[30]
  • 2011: Jehani speaking to BBC - Libya crisis: a decade to rebuild Libya, says NTC[31]
  • 2012: Jehani speaking at the Carnegie Middle East Center.[32]

Appears On

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  • 2004: Jehani interview with World Investment News[33]
  • 2005: Azerbaijan Awaits First IBRD Loan[34]
  • 2011: Libya to honour all legal oil deals - Jehani[35]
  • 2011: Libya will honour oil contracts[36]
  • 2011: Rebels Plan U.N. Talks[37]
  • 2011: Libyan oil refineries could take a year to restore production[38]
  • 2011: "Arab Spring" continues: Libya rebels in Tripoli, Gadhafi defenses collapse but leader himself not found[39]
  • 2011: Libyan sovereign wealth find missing $2.9bn[40]
  • 2011: Libyan rebels eyes bringing back old oil partners[41]
  • 2012: Sectarian tensions rock Libya[42]
  • 2016: Ahmed Jehani Returns to the Fray[43]
  • 2016: Palladyne International Asset Management BV v. Upper Brook (A) Ltd. et al.: Originating Summons[44]
  • 2017: If you want peace in Libya, shun partition and embrace power-sharing[45]
  • 2018: Can Libya break its vicious cycle?[18]
  • 2019: Cayman Islands Court Rules Against Palladyne on Sanctions and Dismissal by Libyan Investment[5]
  • 2019: It's the Economy Stupid: How Libya's Civil War Is Rooted in Its Economic Structures[46]
  • 2020: Gaddafi's Legacy, Institutional Development, and National Reconciliation in Libya[47]

Speeches

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  • 2011: Jehani speaks for the Special Session of the Regulatory Policy Committee and the MENA-OECD Governance Programme Working Group IV[48]
  • 2015: Jehani speaks at Oxford University[49]
  • 2016: Jehani speaks at King's College London[50]
  • 2018: Jehani speaks at BACB[51]
  • 2018: Jehani speaks at a policy workshop organised by KAS Regional Program South Mediterranean[52]


References

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  1. ^ "Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing" (PDF).
  2. ^ a b "INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FINANCING" (PDF). Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  3. ^ "How Goldman Sachs Lost $1.2 Billion of Libya's Money". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  4. ^ Stothard, Michael; Croft, Jane (4 May 2017). "SocGen agrees €963m settlement with Libyan Investment Authority". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  5. ^ a b "Cayman Islands Court rules against Palladyne on sanctions and dismissal by Libyan Investment". Appleby. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  6. ^ "Ahmed al-Jehani". MEED. 2011-10-30. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  7. ^ "Ahmed Jehani". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  8. ^ "World Investment News". www.winne.com. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  9. ^ "Ahmed al-Jehani". MEED. 2011-10-30. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  10. ^ "Ahmed Jehani_US Institute of Peace" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  11. ^ Editor, Tom Heneghan, Religion (2011-09-04). "Libyans stress harmony to avoid Iraq-style chaos". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-10-12. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "Qaddafi finished, says new ambassador to UAE". The National. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  13. ^ Irish, John (2011-09-02). "Libyan council wants oil firms to return quickly". Reuters (in French). Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  14. ^ "Decade to rebuild Libya, says NTC". BBC News. 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  15. ^ Jehani, Paul Salem, Ahmed. "The Aftermath of Libya's First Elections". Carnegie Middle East Center. Retrieved 2020-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "Poor Azerbaijan prepares to get rich". 2005-05-03. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  17. ^ "Cayman Islands Court rules against Palladyne on sanctions and dismissal by Libyan Investment". Appleby. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  18. ^ a b Herald, The (11 June 2018). "Can Libya break its vicious cycle?". The Herald. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  19. ^ a b "Ahmed Jehani". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  20. ^ Dr. Ahmed Jehani, Dr Jalal Elhassia (2018-03-28). A New Start For Libya.
  21. ^ "Tripoli needs more than threats to rein in armed militias". The National. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  22. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-10-12. Retrieved 2020-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ^ "The Economics Of Chaos Jehani 2 August 2017 Tunis". August 2, 2017 – via Internet Archive.
  24. ^ "World Economic Forum: Libya Panel Discussion 1". 25 October 2011 – via www.youtube.com.
  25. ^ "World Economic Forum: Libya Panel Discussion 2". 25 October 2011 – via www.youtube.com.
  26. ^ "World Economic Forum: Libya Panel Discussion 3". 25 October 2011 – via www.youtube.com.
  27. ^ "World Economic Forum: Libya Panel Discussion 4". 25 October 2011 – via www.youtube.com.
  28. ^ "World Economic Forum: Libya Panel Discussion 5". 25 October 2011 – via www.youtube.com.
  29. ^ "World Economic Forum: Libya Panel Discussion 6". 25 October 2011 – via www.youtube.com.
  30. ^ "Reuters Archive Licensing". Reuters Archive Licensing. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  31. ^ "Libya crisis: a decade to rebuild Libya, says NTC". BBC News. 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  32. ^ Jehani, Paul Salem, Ahmed. "The Aftermath of Libya's First Elections". Carnegie Middle East Center.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ "World Investment News". www.winne.com. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  34. ^ "Azerbaijan Awaits First IBRD Loan". Devex. 2005-05-09. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  35. ^ Habboush, Mahmoud (2011-08-24). "Libya to honour all legal oil deals - Jehani". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  36. ^ "Libya will honour oil contracts". Oil Review Middle East (in Polish). 25 August 2011. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  37. ^ Hatoum, Leila (2011-08-25). "Rebels Plan U.N. Talks". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  38. ^ "Libyan oil refineries could take a year to restore production". Oilfield Technology. 2011-08-24. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  39. ^ Jebreili, Kamran (2011-08-21). ""Arab Spring" continues: Libya rebels in Tripoli, Gadhafi defenses collapse but leader himself not found (Slideshow of day's events)". The Hour. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  40. ^ "Libyan sovereign wealth fund 'missing $2.9bn'". Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  41. ^ "Archives - Welcome to BBK". www.bbkonline.com. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  42. ^ "Sectarian tensions rock Libya". Arab News. 2012-09-02. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  43. ^ "LIBYA : Ahmed Jehani returns to the fray - 14/07/2016 - Maghreb Confidential". Africa Intelligence. 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  44. ^ "Palladyne International Asset Management BV v. Upper Brook (A) Ltd. et al: Originating Summons". OffshoreAlert. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  45. ^ "If you want peace in Libya, shun partition and embrace power-sharing". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  46. ^ https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/iaip1917.pdf
  47. ^ Sawani, Youssef Mohammad (2020-03-01). "Gaddafi's Legacy, Institutional Development, and National Reconciliation in Libya". Contemporary Arab Affairs. 13 (1): 46–68. doi:10.1525/caa.2020.13.1.46. ISSN 1755-0912.
  48. ^ "MENA-OECD Governance Programme" (PDF).
  49. ^ "The 2015 Natural Resource Governance Institute Conference: 25 and 26 June at the University of Oxford". Crystol Energy. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  50. ^ Gorcsosova, Eva. "Security in Contemporary Nigeria and Libya". PaCCS. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  51. ^ "LBBC Council Lunch – LBBC". Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  52. ^ "Libya Task Force". Regional Programme Political Dialogue Southern Mediterranean. 2018-09-04. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
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