JOHAN VERBEKE is the Director General of the Brussels based Think Tank EGMONT – Royal Institute of International Relations since 2017. He has been a lifelong Belgian diplomat with postings in the Middle East, Central Afrika and South America. He is a former Chef de Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He served both in the EU (1092-94) and the UN in New Yok (2004-09) where he was representing Belgium on the Security Council. He has been the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General both to Lebanon and Georgia. His last two postings were as Ambassador in London (2010-13 and Washington (2014-16). He holds an LL.M. from the Yale Law School.