Chen Fengxiang, male, Han nationality, born in September 1955 in Inner Mongolia; university graduate; joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in December 1974. 

He started to work in Qahar Right Wing Front Banner in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in January 1973; Enrolled in Beijing University majoring in Russian in October 1975 and began to teach in the Department of International Politics in the same university in February 1979; Shifted to the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPC in October 1984, moving up through Deputy Division Director, Division Director, Deputy Bureau Director-General to Bureau Director-General; Went to the Soviet Union for advanced studies from August 1987 to September 1988; Posted to the Embassy of China in Russia serving as First Secretary from July 1992 to September 1994; Transferred to Binxian County, Shaanxi Province, holding office as Deputy County Magistrate on a training-on-the-job program from April 1997 to March 1998; Assumed office of Deputy Secretary-General while concurrently serving as Bureau Director-General of Bureau Ⅵ of the International Department in January 2003.He became Assistant Minister in May 2004, and promoted to be Vice Minister of the CPC International Department in January 2006.

 

Luc Coortebeeck is President of the Belgian Confederation of Christian Trade Unions, where he has also been National Secretary and President of the Flemish Economic and Social Council.  He is also Vice President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in Brussels, Member of the Executive of the European Trade Union Confederation, Member of the Financial Services Supervisory Authority Board and Vice President of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD and World Confederation of Labour. 

 

 

 

Martin Ziguélé is President of the Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People (MLPC) and a former Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from 2001 to 2003, during which he took on the finance and budget portfolios in addition to his prime ministerial responsibilities. Prior to this he was primarily a financial administrator whose career in insurance and reinsurance had been boosted by periods working in Europe for a succession of companies, and was the National Director for the CAR within the Bank of Central African States.  In 2005 he ran in the Presidential elections against the rebel coup leader Francois Bozize and came second, but was defeated in the second round of voting.  In 2007, he was elected for a three-year term as President of the MLPC. He was born in Irbid, Jordan in 1954. He obtained a Masters degree in communication and engineering, Bicharest University, 1981. 

Lawrence Mishel came to the Economic Policy Institute in 1987. As EPI's first research director, then as vice president, and now president, he has played a significant role in building EPI's research capabilities and reputation. He has researched, written, and spoken widely on the economy and economic policy as it affects middle- and low-income families. He is principal author of a major research volume, The State of Working America (published every even-numbered year since 1988) which provides a comprehensive overview of the U.S. labor market and living standards. 

A nationally recognized economist, Mishel is frequently called on to testify and provide economic briefings to members of Congress and appears regularly as a commentator on the economy in print and broadcast media. 

 

Piero Fassino was born in Avigliana (province of Turin), in a traditional socialist family.

He graduated in Political Sciences and later registered with the Youth Communist Federation of Turin in 1968, becoming their secretary three years later.

In 1975 he was elected as Member of the City Council of the Piedmont regional capital, a position he remained in for ten years. From 1985 to 1990 he held a position as Provincial Councillor, also in Turin.

He was also secretary of the provincial Italian Communist Party (PCI) federation of Turin from 1983 to 1987, when he was elected as member of the National Secretary's Office of the party, first as the Secretary's Office Coordinator, then as Responsible of Organization, during the period where the party was transformed from the PCI into the Democratic Party of the Left PDS ().

From 1991 to 1996 he was International Secretary of the new party; his first election to the Chamber of Deputies (the first chamber of the Italian parliament) was in 1994. Re-elected in 1996, he was appointed in 1998 as Minister for Foreign Commerce in the government headed byMassimo D'Alema. From 2000, he was Minister of Justice in the Giuliano Amato government.

Candidate as vice-premier of the Olive Tree coalition in a ticket with former Rome Mayor Francesco Rutelli for the 2001 general elections in Italy won by the House of Freedoms rival coalition, he was still re-elected as a Member of Parliament.

In 2001, during the National Party Congress of the Democrats of the Left, he was elected as secretary (a position of leader in Italian political parties). He was then re-elected in February 2005, during the last party congress.

He is married with Anna Maria Serafini who was elected in Italian Senate (the second chamber of the Italian parliament) in 2006.

 

He is the Vice-Chairman of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament. He was born in Bulgaria, in 1975.

In the European Parliament, he is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and he is a member for the Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He is also a substitute to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the  Delegation to the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee. 

 

He obtained a Master's degree in international relations and macroeconomics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia (1998). He was part of the programme on International Leadership and Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2001).His first steps within the European Parliament were as a trainee for the PSE Group where he followed the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (2003).

 

From 1999 until 2001, he was a Senior expert for the European Integration Department, National Customs Agency, Ministry of Finance . He was also a Political expert for Foreign Affairs and International Relations Department of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) (2001-2002). He was Head of the Foreign Affairs and International Relations Department of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) (since 2002).

 

He was also member of  the Executive Bureau of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Secretary and Vice-Chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Youth (1994-2000) and Member of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (since 2000). He was also part of the Executive Bureau of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (since 2001) and Secretary of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (since 2002).He was a Councillor in the Poduene area, Municipality of Sofia (1995-1999).He was a Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the National Assembly, member of the Committee on European Integration and Foreign Secretary of the Coalition for Bulgaria parliamentary group of (BSP) (since 2005).He acted as an Observer in the European Parliament from 2005 until 2006.He was the Chairman of the Management Board of the Solidarity Association (1999-2006) and is currently the  Chairman of the Management Board of the CSKA chess club (since 2006).