Speaker

Baroness Catherine Ashton served as the European Union's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy between 2009 and 2014, responsible for the creation of the European External Action Service and the oversight of 140 Diplomatic Missions and 8 military operations. On behalf of the UN Security Council, she coordinated negotiations that resulted in the nuclear programme agreement with Iran. Previously she was EU Commissioner for Trade and served as a Minister in the Departments of Education and Justice, as well as Leader of the House of Lords and President of HM Queen's Privy Council. Baroness Ashton is a Senior Policy Advisor at Chatham House and the Global Europe Chair at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington D.C. She is a senior advisor to the Geneva based mediation organisation, Humanitarian Dialogue.