The Algeria British Business Council is pleased to host an  Ambassadorial Webinar with H.E. Aberrahmane Benguerrah, Algerian Ambassador, who will give an overview of economic opportunities for trade and investment and take questions.

Opening remarks by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Trade Envoy to Algeria, Rt Hon. Lord Risby of Haverhill.
The discussion will be moderated by Lady Olga Maitland, Chairman of the ABBC. There will be contributions from Mr James Fielder, CEO at HSBC, and Mr Mathieu Beaucourt, CEO at KPMG Algeria.

For full bios of the speakers please view the bottom of this article

We hope you can join us in what will be an insightful discussion and update on the opportunities for investment and partnership following the DMA/ABBC webinar on 30th September. We look forward to welcoming you to what is a timely and informative discussion. Says Lady Olga Maitland: ‘There is plenty of evidence that Algeria is on the move and keen to open up to investment and trade. The change is palpable. We hope we can help to facilitate new relationships and create a win-win environment’.

 

PRESENTATION OF SPEAKERS

Biography of Lord Risby of Haverhill

Richard John Grenville Spring, Baron Risby is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury St Edmunds from 1992 to 1997, and for West Suffolk from 1997 to 2010. He joined the House of Lords in 2010 and is currently the British Trade Envoy to Algeria and Lebanon.
Spring was born in 1946 in Cape Town, South Africa where he attended Rondebosch Boys’ High School and Cape Town University.

In 1997, Spring was elected as MP for West Suffolk. Between 1997 and 2000 he was Opposition spokesman for Culture, Media and Sport. He was Opposition Spokesman for Foreign Affairs between 2000 and 2004 and Shadow Minister for the Treasury between 2004 and 2005.[14] On 23 November 2009, Spring announced that he would stand down at the 2010 general election.

He served as a Governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy from 2000 to 2009.

Between 2005 and 2010 he was a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party and Vice-Chairman of Conservative Business Relations as well. In 2005 he was appointed co-Chairman of Conservative City Circle and in 2007 he founded Conservative City Future, of which he is Patron with Sir John Major.

He was also Director of the British Syrian Society between 2003 and 2011, and featured on a 2012 Dispatches program on the Assad regime.

On 24 December 2010, Spring was created a life peer as Baron Risby of Haverhill in the County of Suffolk. Lord Risby sits as a Conservative in the House of Lords.

From 2011 to 2015, Risby was the Vice-Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for East Asian Business. In November 2012, Lord Risby was announced as one of nine prime ministerial trade envoys, with responsibility for Algeria and, in 2019, Lebanon.

Lord Risby has been on the EU External Affairs Committee in the Lords since 2015.

Biography of Ambassador Abderrahmane BENGUERRAH

Experience
1985-1987: Junior cabinet member, Algerian Ministry of Energy
1987-1988: Head of marketing group, Algerian oil company SONATRACH
1988-1992: Third Secretary, Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1992-1996: First Secretary, Press Attache ,Algerian Embassy in London
1996-2000: Deputy Director for North American Affairs
2000-2004: Deputy Head of Mission,Algerian Embassy in Washington
2004-2008: Cabinet member,Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2008-2009: Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative,United Nations, NewYork
2009-2015: Ambassador,Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and The Gambia
2015-2017: Director for West European Countries
2017-2019: Director General for the Americas

Qualifications
1975: Baccalaureat in Mathematics
1980: Bachelor of Science in Engineering, University of New Hampshire,USA
Bachelor of Arts in Economics,University of New Hampshire,USA
1982: Master of Arts in Economics,University of New Hampshire,USA

Personal
Married, three children

Biography of Ambassador Abderrahmane BENGUERRAH

Mr James Fielder is the Chief Executive Officer at HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, Algeria

James has been with HSBC for over 22 years, working in Asia, Europe, USA and MENAT in both product and business line roles. Approximately half of his career was spent in Global Markets with Head of Trading roles in South Korea and Thailand. He was also Head of Local Currency Syndicate in Hong Kong helping clients raise debt in offshore RMB and other Asian currencies.

Prior to his current role, he spent three years back in the UK, including as COO for Global Banking UK, responsible for a number of regulatory change and remediation projects. He has been CEO of HSBC’s Algeria branch for over two years, leading a team of circa 115 people where creating an environment for them to be at their best is what he feels is key to the overall success of the bank.

Biography of Mr Mathieu Beaucourt

Grade
Partner, Chief Executive Officer

Experience
Mathieu is a Partner and Managing Director of KPMG Algeria, which he joined in 2002 after 5 years with KPMG Audit in France. He has been involved in many audit and consulting assignments in the banking sector in Algeria, both for public and private institutions since 2002.
In France, he has worked as a legal and contractual auditor for TOTAL, EJL, Laboratoires Fournier, and Fujitsu. He also carried out the audit of the regional departments of Jean Lefebvre company.
In the services sector, he is in charge of contractual financial audits, studies and business valuation consulting assignments, notably for OTA, Sodexo, BEL Algeria, Fruital, FAO, Entrepose Contracting, Orascom Construction, OGEC.
In the field of energy, he was responsible for the acquisition process of ENGI for LINDE.
Among these other references, Mathieu participated in:
The design and writing of reports, planning, supervision, etc.
Due diligence assignments on behalf of the Mittal, Orascom Construction, Linde, CSCE (China State Construction Engineering Corporation) and BEL groups.

Training
Higher School of Business and Management option Audit and Finance ESCEM
Diploma of Accounting and Financial Studies DECF (France)
Superior Diploma in Accounting and Management DSCG (France)