MISSION SPAIN NOMINATIONS FOR PRESIDENTIAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 MADRID 001149 SENSITIVE SIPDIS S/P FOR G.BEHRMAN S/SRMC FOR K.CHANDLER R FOR S.NOOR-ALI EUR/PPD FOR L.MCMANIS BARCELONA FOR G.CROUCH E.O. 12958: DECL: N/A TAGS: ECON EIAD PREL SOCI XF XI ZR ZP CN PU MV SO SP SUBJECT: MISSION SPAIN NOMINATIONS FOR PRESIDENTIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT REF: STATE 112468 SBU - ENTIRE TEXT ¶1. In response to taskings set out in reftel, Post's Muslim Engagement Working Group canvassed a wide range of contacts to solicit qualified nominees for the Entrepreneurship Summit. The Working Group was enlarged to include representatives of PAS, ECON, POL, the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service (USCS),and other Mission elements, including Consulate Barcelona (by conference call). ¶2. The Muslim communities in Spain maintain a relatively low profile. Most of Spain's Muslims are manual laborers from Northern Africa (especially from Morocco) and Sub-Saharan Africa who have come to Spain to seek jobs. Many of the Muslims residing in Catalonia and down the eastern coast to Valencia have family ties to Pakistan and South Asia. Identifying candidates who fit the particular profile of the Summit has been challenging given the diverse populations, especially since the majority reside in areas where the Embassy has limited contact. Mission outreach has therefore concentrated on immigrant and Muslim communities through social and cultural organizations. ¶3. NOMINATIONS The Mission has identified six strong, potential candidates, listed below in alphabetical order. We request that the Department inform the Mission of any pre- selection of Spain's nominees for the Summit prior to the nominees being contacted by Washington. -------------- -------------- (A) SAMIRA BRIGUECH Directora General Samira & Sineb Consultores Agencia de Marketing y Relaciones Publicas Madrid E-mail: samira@samira.es -------------- -------------- Background: A businesswoman of Moroccan origin, Mrs. Briguech has shown by example that she understands the challenges of promoting a culture of entrepreneurship, job creation, and economic opportunity. She has received many awards for her leadership and entrepreneurial skills; she particularly values her awards from Spain's Federation of Women CEOs and Business Leaders (Fedepe),the Association of Young Entrepreneurs, and CEOE (the largest employer organization in Spain). Over 13 years ago, she founded Samira & Sineb, a public relations and marketing agency, starting with a capital of only $10,000. Since that time, she has dedicated her efforts to creating a strong, stable, and competent team of 25 employees, building the top ranked public relations agency in technology and information sectors. Her principal clients include Orange, Symantec, Oracle, BT, and Hewlett Packard. Mrs. Briguech also serves as Vice President of the Association of Young Entrepreneurs and the Federation of Young Businesswomen of Madrid. These leadership organizations gave her insights into how she could start up and manage her own company. She is now giving back to these organizations by actively supporting youth programs creating and supporting entrepreneur networks, and promoting the education, training and mentoring of future entrepreneurs. Mrs. Briguech has also created the Adelias Foundation, putting into practice her belief that her company must follow socially responsible practices. Within her company she has built a value system of social responsibility, setting aside 2% of company sales for benevolent causes. The foundation's work centers principally on Morocco, due its proximity to Spain and because of the significant lack of health and educational resources available. In addition to providing educational materials for blind children to learn Braille, this foundation currently carries out projects for children with meningitis, and learning disabilities. She is also working together with other organizations, supporting efforts to create a neonatal unit in a hospital, financed with support of Farmaceuticos sin Fronteras (Pharmacists Without Borders). Mrs. Briguech is also board member of the Fundacisn ROSE Caja Mediterrneo, where she is also involved with corporate social responsibility and environmental initiatives. She is married to the Senior Commerce Foreign Service employee. MADRID 00001149 002 OF 005 Justification: Samira Briguech would be an excellent participant in the Presidential Summit on Leadership given her experience as an entrepreneur and role model, her willingness to mentor and teach entrepreneurship to youth, and her visionary work in establishing and supporting foundations that are advancing mutual understanding in Muslim communities within Spain and Morocco. She is a dynamic, intelligent person who is a role model for other entrepreneurs, both in her capacity as a business owner, and also as a mentor in the youth leadership organizations and non-profit organizations she actively supports and manages. Her involvement in bringing Spain and Morocco closer together through benevolent causes is widely admired and is helping to bridge cultural differences. -------------- (B) KHALID CHAKRANE BACHTIRI Managing Director Moroccan Attijariwafa Bank at Madrid President of ATLAS Association for Relief to Moroccan Youth Centers e-mail: atps2003@terra.es -------------- Background: As President of the ATLAS Association, Khalid is responsible for bringing humanitarian relief to juvenile centers in Morocco. To that effect, he mobilizes human resources, promotes fund-raising among Spaniards and Moroccan immigrants in Spain, and coordinates the logistics of the relief expeditions. In the last two years, he has organized five humanitarian aid convoys for the juvenile centers of Tangier, Chaouen, Rabat, Fez and Sefrou. As managing director of the Madrid branch of the Moroccan Attijariwafa Bank, Khalid is building a broad network of Moroccan depositors, facilitating immigrant transfers of money to Morocco, and advising potential Spanish investors on the best investment choices in Northern Morocco. This last responsibility, directly related to the economic development of North Africa, is Khalid's most promising facet. In a few years, he may be promoted to an influential position in the Moroccan- Spanish Consortium of Entrepreneurs and Investors. Justification: Khalid has an inquisitive spirit that surely will enable him quickly to adopt American institutional strategies for building a transparent framework of open markets between Spain and Morocco, facilitating the transfer of technology through "revolving door" immigration, promoting the economic integration of immigrants into the mainstream, and channeling Spanish investments in the fishery business and the exploitation of renewable energies. As a participant in the radio program Vecinos del Sur, broadcast by Cadena SER, the radio station with the largest audience in Spain, Khalid is a young Muslim opinion leader able to reach large segments of the Islamic community in Spain. His participation in the Washington Summit on Entrepreneurship will contribute significantly to fostering dialogue between Islam and the West, building a bridge between the economies of Spain and North Africa, and neutralizing the effects of radical Islam in both regions. -------------- -------------- (C) MOHAMED EL IDRISSI EL ALOUANI EL BOUAANANI Entrepreneur in the real estate sector President of the Cultural Association of Friendship and Cooperation between Catalonia and Morocco Blanes, Girona E-mail: finquesblanda@telefonica.net -------------- -------------- Background: Born in Morocco in 1958 and a Spanish citizen, Mr. El Idrissi is a prominent entrepreneur and businessman in the Spanish region of Girona and President of the Cultural Association of Friendship and Cooperation between Catalonia and Morocco. He has an undergraduate degree in Commerce and owns a real estate agency in the town of Blanes (north of Barcelona). He is an influential figure of the business community in the region of Girona and a member of the local Socialist Party. He has been highly recommended by Mohammed Chaib, a Member of Parliament and former IVLP grantee. MADRID 00001149 003 OF 005 He is also a member of the board of the Euro Arab Center of Catalonia, an organization that promotes cooperation, dialogue and mutual understanding in the Euro-Mediterranean region. Its main goal is to facilitate the participation of members of civil society of Arab origin in Catalonia in the 'Union for the Mediterranean.' The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, formerly known as the Barcelona Process, was re- launched in 2008 as the 'Union for the Mediterranean', with its Secretariat based in Barcelona. The Partnership now includes all 27 member states of the European Union, along with 16 partners across the Southern Mediterranean and the Middle East. This is an innovative alliance that seeks to create a Mediterranean region of peace, security, and shared economic prosperity. Justification: Mr. Mohamed El Idrissi is a respected entrepreneur who is actively engaged with Muslim communities outside the city of Barcelona. His energy and dedication to promote economic opportunities and job creation in the Euro Mediterranean region, place him in a unique position as a strong interlocutor of the Moroccan business community in Catalonia. -------------- -------------- (D) HUMA JAMSHED Businesswoman President of the Cultural and Educational Association of Pakistani Women (ACESOP) Barcelona E-mail: humajamshed4@yahoo.es -------------- -------------- Background: Born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1966 and a resident in Spain since 1997, Ms. Jamshed is a businesswoman and president of the Cultural and Educational Association of Pakistani Women (ACESOP) in Barcelona. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid. She and her husband run a travel agency and she devotes a lot of her time to the ACESOP, an association she founded in 2005. This non-profit association reaches out to the women of the Pakistani community in Barcelona, which numbers more than 35,000, and is the largest in Spain. The purpose of the association is to promote the integration of Pakistani women through the organization of workshops, courses, cultural activities, and advising services on legal and business matters. She is also the vice president of Barcelona's Council for Immigration. Ms. Jamshed is one of post's good contacts; as President of ACESOP, she first participated in a post program when Farah Pandith, Special Advisor to the Asst. Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, came to Barcelona in April 2007. Since then, she has attended many post programs and receptions, and participated in a Vienna conference on "Muslims and the West: Living together - but how?" organized by the NGO Women without Borders in collaboration with the US Embassy in Vienna and the US Mission to the European Union in October 2007. In FY09 she was an IV grantee. Ms. Jamshed participated in a Single Country Project on "Effective Community Organizing for Minorities." Justification: Huma Jamshed is a well-known leader of the Muslim community in Barcelona, particularly among Pakistanis, which is especially relevant in this part of Spain. Her participation in the Summit will give her new ideas in entrepreneurial leadership and will undoubtedly enrich her views and provide effective strategies that she can adapt and develop locally. -------------- --- (E) MAHDI MOHAMED-SALEH RASHID Deputy Director General For the Spanish Sacyr Vallehermoso Corporation in Libya e-mail: msaleh@gruposyv.com -------------- --- Background: Born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1955, Mahdi Mohamed-Saleh actively resisted the Ba'ath Political Party of Saddam Hussein. For this reason, he was not accepted by the Baghdad University and went to Beirut to study Philosophy and Arabic Literature. Returning to Baghdad, Mahdi found that all opportunities for professional advancement were closed to him by the Government political party. So he decided to go into exile in Spain, where he has resided since 1977. For the past five years, Mahdi Mohamed-Saleh has served as Deputy Director MADRID 00001149 004 OF 005 General of the Spanish entrepreneurial holding Sacyr Vallermoso with responsibility for its operations in Libya. He has exercised the following functions: -- Responsible for the international business development operations of Sacyr Vallehermoso corporation in North Africa. -- To identify and secure for the Spanish holding company, on a competitive basis, contracts of public works projects such as airports, ports, highways, infrastructure. -- To play a key role in the negotiation of contracts with clients, primarily Libyan Government authorities. -- To follow up on the execution of the contracts by both parties. -- To advise the Spanish corporation Sacyr Vallermoso on the viability of their investments in the Arab countries of North Africa. Justification: Mahdi Mohamed-Saleh Rashid has the ability to speak three languages, Arabic, Spanish, and English. Integrated in the Spanish way of life, he has not forgotten his native roots. Mahdi is a perfect bicultural liaison between Islamic countries and the West. From his position in the international holding company Sacyr Vallermoso, Mahdi is a priceless asset in the dialogue between Islam and the West on such crucial issues as the transfer of technology, investment for development, professional training of native workers and the creation of jobs. Mahdi obtained his Ph.D. in Political Science from the Catholic University of Salamanca in Spain six month ago, having written his doctoral dissertation on the political thought of Ib Khaldun, a XIV century Arab historian born in Damascus who lived in Seville, Spain, and explained the evolution of Arab countries in very critical and dialectic terms. Like Ib Khaldun in the fourteenth century, Mahdi Mohamed-Saleh contends that Muslim countries today have the opportunity to be part get of the global economy without losing any of their cultural identity. This is one of the conclusions of his doctoral thesis. -------------- (F) ISABEL ROMERO ARIAS Director General Halal Institute Cordoba e-mail: iromero@alcavia.net -------------- Background: Ms. Romero was born in Madrid in 1957, and has lived in Csrdoba since 1981. She converted to Islam in 2003. Since then she has been very active in the community as Project Director at the Islamic Federation of Spain (FERRI),a spokesperson at the Islamic Commission of Spain (CIE),and in 1998 became the founder and promoter of the Halal Institute. Her previous experience has been in the marketing and business sector. The Halal Institute in Spain is a non-profit organization created by the Islamic Board, which is responsible for -- and signatory of -- the Cooperation Agreements between Muslims and the Spanish national government. It is responsible for regulating and certifying Halal products and services aimed at Muslims and has now certified more than one hundred companies, which it supports and advises, especially in exportation. The Institute is a member of the I.H.I Alliance, an international association that promotes the establishment of a World Halal Standard (Malaysia is among the countries most supportive of the Alliance). Last February they created the European Association for the same purpose, with ten European certifying entities as founders. In the first quarter of 2010, they will celebrate the first consultative meeting to create a similar association that promotes Latin-American standards. They will invite to this meeting the two leading U.S. organizations, IFANCA and ISNA, together with some Canadian organizations, to participate in this meeting. Justification: The Halal Institute has been able to develop an accreditation standard that is a unique model in Europe and has been legally registered as a guaranteed brand based on certification by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture in 2003. Thanks to this Halal certificate, Spanish companies are able to sell their products in more than 30 countries, and the door is now open to all countries with majority Muslim populations. Ms. Romero's experiences could bring unique insights and contribute significantly to Summit debates. MADRID 00001149 005 OF 005 Chacon