Thursday, Oct 16, 2025 | 04:00 PM - 04:50 PM
Location: Meeting Halls A&B HQ1-3-430A&B
This event will be live streamed on this page. Refresh page at start of event to load video player.
OVERVIEW
Digital technologies and artificial intelligence are transforming economies at an unprecedented pace — reshaping how value is created, services are delivered, and competitiveness is sustained. This high-level panel will feature ministers from Greece, Lebanon, and Estonia, who will share how their governments are integrating digitalization and AI in their national strategies. The discussion will explore the opportunities and challenges these technologies present for driving new models of growth, fostering inclusive participation, and strengthening economic competitiveness in a rapidly evolving global economy.
MODERATOR
Era Dabla-Norris
Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
Era Dabla-Norris is Deputy Director in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, where she leads the work on the IMF flagship report, the Fiscal Monitor and on AI and Fiscal Policy. Previously she was in the Asia Pacific Department as mission chief for Vietnam. Prior to this, she was a Division Chief in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, working on debt, structural reforms and productivity, fiscal spillovers, and demographic change. Since joining the IMF, she has worked on a range of advanced, emerging market, and low-income countries and published widely on a variety of topics. She is the editor of the book Debt and Entanglements. Her research has also been profiled regularly in leading global newspapers and magazines such as The Economist, Financial Times, Bloomberg, BBC, and CNN. She is a contributing member of the Global Futures Council of the World Economic Forum. Era holds a Master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics, India, and a PhD from the University of Texas
PANELISTS
Kyriakos Pierrakakis
Minister of Economy and Finance of the Hellenic Republic
Kyriakos Pierrakakis serves as Minister of Economy and Finance of the Hellenic Republic in Prime Minister Mitsotakis' Cabinet since March 2025, and is a Member of Parliament. Previously, he was Minister of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports (2023-2025), where he Initiated a series of reforms of Greece’s education system, most notably establishing a framework for private universities to formally operate in Greece for the first time and banning mobile phones in classrooms. As Minister of Digital Governance (2019-2023), he led Greece’s digital transformation, with the creation of the government portal gov.gr being the most notable initiative and one of the most popular reforms initiated in Greece. He chaired the OECD's Global Strategy Group since 2021, a position he was re-appointed to in 2024.
Pierrakakis holds degrees from MIT (M.S. Technology and Policy), Harvard Kennedy School (Master in Public Policy), and Athens University of Economics and Business (B.S. Computer Science). Born in Athens in 1983, he is married with three children and speaks English and French
Kamal Shehadi
Minister of State for Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence and Minister of the Displaced, Lebanon
Dr. Kamal Shehadi is a Lebanese chief executive, economist, policy expert, and technology leader, serving since 2025 as Minister of State for Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence and Minister of the Displaced. He holds a B.A. in Economics (cum laude) from Harvard and a Ph.D. in International Political Economy from Columbia, and has taught at Columbia, Harvard, and the American University of Beirut. He previously chaired Lebanon’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (2007–2010) and held senior legal, regulatory, and strategy roles at UAE-based e& (formerly Etisalat), alongside leading telecom and tech consulting across the Middle East. He also served on the investment committee of Dubai Angel Investors. Today, Dr. Shehadi is driving Lebanon’s digital future, prioritizing national digital identity, modernizing government services, applying AI for public welfare and reconstruction, and building the legal, regulatory, and talent frameworks needed to anchor a knowledge economy at home and across the diaspora.
Jürgen Ligi
Minister of Finance of the Republic of Estonia
Jürgen Ligi is the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Estonia and a long-serving member of the Estonian Reform Party with extensive experience in public administration and fiscal and economic policies. Born on 16 July 1959, he holds degrees in Geography and International Economics from the University of Tartu and an MBA from the Estonian Business School. Over his career, he has served as Minister of Defense, Minister of Education and Research, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and has chaired several key parliamentary committees on finance, national defense, and state budget control. He was also a member of the Supervisory Board of Bank of Estonia from 2021 to 2022. Mr. Ligi speaks English, Finnish, and Russian, is married with two children, and two grandchildren, and enjoys sports and reading.
