Dr. Florence Edoden

Dr. Florence Eid Oakden is the founder and chief economist of Arabia Monitor Arab Watch, and also serves as a professor in economics and finance at the American University of Beirut. She also serves as a visiting professor at INSEAD College in Paris and the Higher Business School in Paris. Arabia Monitor is currently the only independent economic research institution with a team of all Arab analysts, providing research and consulting services for various international institutions and enterprises in Central and Northeast Africa, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Ministry of Finance of Qatar, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, State Street, PwC, Total Natural Gas, KKR, Saudi Basic Industries Group, and Cambridge Partners. Dr. Ed Oakden holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Economics jointly awarded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in the United States. He has served as Vice President and Senior Economist for Central and Northeast Africa at JPMorgan Chase, and has collaborated with the World Bank on projects in Latin America and North Africa. She currently serves as a director of the International Banking Group of the Bank of Arab States in London, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Business School of the University of Faisal in Saudi Arabia, a director of the North American Arab Bankers Association, and a director of the American University of Paris. Dr. Ed Oakden has been interviewed multiple times, including BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Wall Street Journal, CCTV, and Phoenix TV. She often delivers keynote speeches at world summits, such as China Arab Expo, Boao Middle East, Norway North Sea Oil Exhibition ONS, Global Trade Review GTR, Global Trade Review Middle East Annual Conference. The themes of her speeches include China GCC economic and trade relations, the impact of the the Belt and Road in the Middle East, the outlook of the international energy market, opportunities and challenges in the Middle East market, Iran and the international community, and the political and economic pattern of the Middle East.