First advertising festival created for the Middle Eastern & North African region, the MENA Cristal Festival is very honoured to welcome Mikhail Gorbachev.
On the occasion of the Festival, he will hold an exceptional conference about “Bringing down the walls between the present and the future”.
Tuesday 2nd of February, 5.30 pm, Intercontinental Mzaar.
In March 1985, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Party Central Committee - the highest post in the nation and party hierarchy.
Gorbachev initiated the process of change in the Soviet Union - what was later called perestroika, the fundamental transformation of the nation and society. Glasnost became perestroika’s driving force. A sweeping process of the nation’s democratization was launched and reforms were planned to put the nation’s ineffective economy back on track to market economics.
The Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR - the first parliament in Soviet history, made on the basis of free and contested election – elected Gorbachev President of the USSR on March 15, 1990. Prior to this, following Andrei Gromyko’s resignation in 1988, Gorbachev became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and in summer 1989, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Accordingly, he headed the nation’s Defense Council and was Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
In recognition of his outstanding services as a great reformer and world political leader, who greatly contributed in changing for the better the very nature of world development, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 15, 1990.
On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev stepped down as Head of State. Since January 1992, he has been President of the International Nongovernmental Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (The Gorbachev Foundation). Since March 1993, he has also been President of Green Cross International - an international independent environmental organization with branches in more than twenty countries. Mikhail Gorbachev also chairs the United Russian Social Democratic Party, established in March 2000.
Christian CAPPE, CEO of the Cristal Festival, organiser of the Mena Cristal Festival commented this nomination: “The Mena Cristal Festival is a celebration of Middle East and North Africa’s best creative ideas in advertising and communication. It is also an international platform dedicated to public interest topics such as ecology, great causes... For the 5th edition of the Festival, this event-conference will highlight the actions of a particularly skilled and respected personality: President Mikhail Gorbatchev”.
More than 500 advertising professional leaders from 20 different countries in the region are expected during the 5th edition of the MENA Cristal Festival.
