Étienne Davignon, Minister of State, is a Belgian diplomat, businessman, and former vice-president of the European Commission where he was active in the restructuring of European industry, promoting new research on cooperative ventures in Information Technology and Telecommunication and negotiated key agreements with the US, Japan and China. In 1985, he joined Société Générale de Belgique, Belgium’s leading holding company, and became Chairman in 1989 and Vice-Chairman in 2001. From 2003 – 2010, he served as Vice-Chairman of Suez-Tractebel. He was Chairman of Bilderberg from 1998-2011. Today, he is Chairman of Genfina, SN Airholding, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Fondation P.-H. Spaak and ICHEC and Vice-Chairman of CMB. In addition, he is Chairman of CSR Europe and President of Friends of Europe.
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