Contact: Maysam Ali
Associate Director, Middle East Programs
The Aspen Institute
202-736-5831
maysam.ali@aspeninstitute.org
Partners for a New Beginning to Host International Summit in Istanbul
23-24 November 2013
Hilton Istanbul – Cumhuriyet Caddesi Harbiye
İstanbul, Turkey, 21 November 2013 –– The Partners for a New Beginning (PNB) Secretariat at the Aspen Institute will host the PNB Summit in İstanbul, Turkey 23-24 November 2013. This meeting will feature government, business, and civil society leaders from the US and across the MENA region.
The opening session on Saturday, 23 November 2013 at 10:00 AM will feature welcoming remarks from Madeleine Albright, PNB Chair and former Secretary of State; M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, PNB Turkey Chair and President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges; and Drew O’Brien, Special Representative of the US Secretary of State for Global Partnerships. H.E. Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister of Economic Affairs of the Republic of Turkey will deliver the keynote address.
The Summit will advance initiatives to strengthen education and human capacity building, enhance the entrepreneurship ecosystem, and catalyze investment across PNB countries. The discussions will focus on building professional skills, innovation in higher education, and supporting entrepreneurship through: expanded mentorship, access to capital, and increased women and youth participation.
Additionally, PNB, in partnership with Global Entrepreneurship Week, will host networking events and panel discussions that provide a platform for high-performing entrepreneurs from Turkey, the MENA region and Pakistan to engage with investors and business leaders that can share entrepreneurial expertise and best practices.
PNB is a public-private partnership supporting the advancement of entrepreneurship, education, and innovation in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Pakistan, and Indonesia. PNB is led by Local Chapters comprised of business and civil society leaders in each country, as well as an international Steering Committee that includes leadership from preeminent multinational companies such as Hilton Worldwide, Cisco, Intel, and Morgan Stanley, among others.
The opening session on Saturday, 23 November 2013 will be fully open to the press. Subsequent panels will be under Chatham House Rule (members of the press are free to use the information received during the panels, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers, nor that of any other participant, may be revealed). Follow the event with #PNBsummit. A more detailed schedule of events may be found at aspeninstitute.org/pnbsummit.
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
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