The Rumsfeld Foundation is pleased to announce the 12 professionals selected to participate in the Fall 2022 session of the CAMCA Fellowship Program. Launched in 2008, the CAMCA Fellowship is a joint program of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at the American Foreign Policy Council and the Rumsfeld Foundation. It brings exceptional rising leaders from Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus and Afghanistan (CAMCA) to the United States for a high-level, intensive exchange experience designed to forge enduring personal and professional connections among its talented participants. The Fellowship aims to encourage intraregional cooperation among the program countries as well as to foster stronger relations between the U.S. and the CAMCA region, and serves as a starting point for continued dialogue and collaboration among the innovative regional leaders that comprise the program’s alumni network.
As participants of the 25th Fellowship session, the Fall 2022 group will join the program’s growing alumni network of 241 former Fellows.
Throughout their six-week program, Fellows will attend a series of private high-level meetings with top policy-makers, business leaders, journalists, academics, military personnel and regional experts, exposing them to inside perspectives on how opinion making, decision making and policy making processes work in the U.S. The group will also spend a week traveling to Detroit, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois for meetings with local businesses and officials, providing them with a view of the U.S. beyond the nation’s capital. In addition to group meetings, program staff will assist Fellows in arranging individual meetings relevant to their independent interests as well as provide opportunities for professional development and networking. The Fellows will also participate in a group presentation at a Central Asia-Caucasus Institute public forum where they will engage with representatives from local embassies, businesses, universities, the media and others interested in current perspectives from the region.
The Fall 2022 Fellows consist of a diverse group of talented regional leaders, pictured left to right below:
Mr. Hamid Arsalan – Afghanistan – Senior Expert on Fragility, Conflict and Violence at the World Bank Group
Ms. Helal Massomi – Afghanistan – Member of the Afghan Adjustment Act Coalition and human rights advocate and researcher
Dr. Grigor Vardanyan – Armenia – Co-founder and Deputy CEO of Green Food LLC, a strawberry farming and trading company
Mr. Ali Hajizade – Azerbaijan – Founder and CEO of Hajizade Group LLC, a strategic communications and public relations company
Mr. Parviz Baghirov – Azerbaijan – Director of the National Erasmus+ Office in Azerbaijan (Education, Culture and Audiovisual Executive Agency of the European Commission)
Mr. Giorgi Khojevanishvili – Georgia – Attorney and majoritarian Member of the Parliament of Georgia
Mr. Timur Naizabekov – Kazakhstan – Private equity professional in the fields of investment banking, telecommunications, real estate and energy
Mr. Azizbek Omorkulov – Kyrgyz Republic – Chairman of the Board of the Development Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic
Ms. Nazgul Konurbaeva – Kyrgyz Republic – Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Capital Media Company
Ms. Gereltuya Orgil – Mongolia – Founder and CEO of EMPR, a management agency delivering strategic communications services and brand PR campaigns to local and international clients
Mr. Fayoz Rizvonov – Tajikistan – Founder and CEO of Trigma.AI, a tech start-up innovating AI driven commercial optimization platform
Mr. Kakajan Berdiyev – Turkmenistan – Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Maslahatçylar HJ, a management consulting company
To learn more about the CAMCA Fellowship Program please visit our CAMCA Fellowship page.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Sarah C. Tonucci
Executive Director, Rumsfeld Foundation
1100 17th Street NW, #402
Washington, D.C. 20036
Tel: (202) 944-1304
E-mail: sarah@rumsfeldfoundation.org
David Soumbadze
Director, CAMCA Fellowship Program
509 C Street NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
Tel: (301) 257-5753
E-mail: soumbadze@afpc.org