On 25th March 2014, the NATO Defense College (NDC) was pleased to welcome two prominent Ambassadors, His Excellency Hossam Eldeen Aly from Egypt and His Excellency Ahmad Masa’deh from Jordan. The two distinguished speakers gave interesting lectures to the Members of the 11th NATO Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC 11), directed by the Head of Middle East Faculty (MEF), Col G. Morabito (ITA A).
In the first session, Prof. Aly described the current situation in Egypt, focusing on disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and providing an overview of the legal instruments developed by the international community to monitor and restrict the use of nuclear power.
The following presentation, provided by Ambassador Masa’deh, was entitled “Political Game Changers: the Arab Region in Trouble”, and focused on the process of transformation in some Arab countries, initiated by the “Arab Spring”. The speaker identified five main political game changers which could influence and enhance the process of pluralism and democratization across the Middle East. The lecture was also attended by the NDC Dean, Dr Daria Daniels Skodnik (SVN C).
Over the past 20 years, Ambassador Aly has taken part in a large number of key international security, non-proliferation and disarmament negotiations, and he is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the “Centre on Nuclear Studies and Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy” (Cairo University) and member of the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). At present, he is Director for Disarmament Affairs at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, and was the Director for Security and Strategic Organizations from January to October 2013.
Between 2006 and 2010, His Excellency Ahmad Masa’deh was Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the European Union, Belgium, Norway and Luxembourg. Furthermore, he was also the Jordanian Coordinator to the Union for the Mediterranean and Jordan’s Representative to NATO. In 2006, he was decorated by His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan with the Order of Independence of the First Class. Subsequently, in 2010, in recognition of his efforts in Jordanian-Belgian relations, His Majesty King Albert II of Belgium decorated him with the Order of the Crown of the Grand Cross Class (Grand-Croix de L’Ordre de la Couronne) and became the first Jordanian Ambassador to receive this honour.
NDC Public Affairs Office
(Prepared by Ms Valentina Ferrandu, ITA C)
NATO Defense College