Mohammad Hossein Adeli

Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli (Persian: سید محمدحسین عادلی‎‎, born in 1953 in Ahvaz) is an Iranian politician, diplomat, economist and academic. He is currently serving his second term as the Secretary General of Gas Exporting Countries Forum. He is the founder of Ravand Institute. He was the chairman of Iran's first Investment Bank Amin Investment Bank until 2011. In May 2014, he received the Order of the Rising Sun from the Emperor of Japan, Akihito, the highest Order given to any Iranian National for his important role in the Iran–Japan Relation.

Hossein Adeli is one of the few Iranian politicians to have a truly international background, having studied Business Administration at Tehran Business School, he continued his Masters in International Economics at University of Tehran before earning his Doctor of Business Administration in California Coast University. He attended his Ph.D. courses in Stony Brook University and New School University. He obtained his second Ph.D. in Economics from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Adeli was educated in Dar ul-Funun (Persian: دار الفنون ) in Tehran. Beginning his career teaching at various universities in Tehran, at age of 27 he became the Director General of the Economic Affairs Department in Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Five years later, he became special advisor to the Foreign Ministry. In the following year, he acted as advisor to the Minister of Petroleum. Adeli went on to represent Iran at various OPEC meetings. Adeli is one of the only dignitaries of the Islamic Republic to have actively participated to the World Economic Forum activities.

Adeli’s diplomatic career began with his appointment as Iran’s Ambassador to Japan between 1986 and 1989, during which he played a key role in revitalising Iranian and Japanese business/political relations. While he was in office, Hirohito, the 124th Emperor of Japan who ruled for over 60 years died on January 7, 1989, and his imperial funeral was held on the next month. On February 24, Adeli and his wife attended the Rites of Imperial Funeral with Mostafa Mir-Salim, Vice President and Hossein Saffar Harandi, a Member of Parliament and the Chairman of Parliament Committee on Agriculture.

Soon thereafter, at the age of 36 he was appointed Governor of Central Bank of Iran. Adeli is credited a pioneer of the economic reform package during the critical years of reconstruction following the Iraq-Iran War. Through a series of macroeconomic adjustments, Adeli delivered strong and sustained results by dramatically improving the foreign exchange and monetary policy.

Adeli’s diplomatic career progressed through his appointment as Iranian Ambassador to Canada in 1995. At the end of his term in 1999, Adeli was nominated as Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs and the chairman of the Coordinating Council for Foreign Economic Relations until 2004. During these years, Adeli initiated two special committees for Reconstruction of Afghanistan and Reconstruction of Iraq through a series of multilateral arrangements, and filled the role of secretary general for both committees.

As his last official post, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary of Iran to the United Kingdom. At his time, he along with John Curtis and several others lobbied with Iranian Government to borrow 80 items for a new exhibition named “The Forgotten Empire”.

Having served in the ministry of Oil as the Minister’s international advisor,he has been the advocate and chief negotiator of many energy plans and projects of which the following can be highlighted:

1. Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline; where he served as the co-chair of the joint commission of Iran, Pakistan and India. In this respect he met and talked with high level authorities of both Pakistan and India, namely the Late Bi Nazir Bhuto, Prime Minister, General Musharraf, President of Pakistan, Mr. Vajpay, Prime Minister of India, as well as respective ministers from both countries
2. Iran-Armenia Gas pipeline; headed the gas diplomacy for this project
3. Iran-EU energy cooperation; for which he negotiated for establishment of Iran-EU energy center in Iran, and headed the team to engage with Nabucco project to export gas to EU.
4. Iran Gas cooperation with southern neighbors; where he led the talks with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for development of Arash field in the Persian Gulf and the export of gas to KSA
5. Iran-CIS gas and Oil cooperation; gas cooperation with Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.

• "Ravand Institute Press release" (PDF). ravandinstitute.com (Press release). November 5, 2013. 

Adeli has also been active in regional and international groups and organisations, including the D-8, the G15, the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation and the European Union. He has received many awards including a distinction by the Economic Cooperation Organisation Secretary General for "Special Recognition and Appreciation" for his contribution and proposition of the name ECO. He also won the Crans-Montana Development and Peace Award in 2002 in Geneva.

Adeli has also received special recognition for various activities including: spearheading monetary reforms as Central Bank Governor; innovation of a new Islamic banking financial instrument called “Participation Paper”, now widely used in Iran and other Islamic countries under the name of Sukuk; initiating the law for Official Development Assistance of Iran which aims to contribute to the development of least developing countries; initiating Economic Diplomacy for the first time in Iran; initiating Economic partnership with Africa through Iran–Africa economic summit; being head of Coordination for assistance to Iraqi reconstruction, and Coordination for assisting Afghanistan reconstruction through international organization. He has been a frequent guest speaker at many prestigious international conferences, including OPEC, South-South Cooperation, United Nations, World Economic Forum, Islamic Banking and Finance, World Bank, International Trade Centre and International Monetary Fund as well as major investment banks such as Goldman Sachs.

After leaving the government, Adeli founded the Ravand Institute for Economic and International Studies, Iran’s first private non-governmental, non-partisan research centre (think-thank). He is the founder of Ravand Institute.

Throughout his career, he established a strong network of academic, corporate and diplomatic contacts. These connections and associations have provided Ravand Institute with access to global leaders, policy-makers, corporate executives, NGOs, businesspeople, academics and the media. Committed to the promotion of understanding and partnership, Ravand Institute organises international conferences and seminars, where such bodies and organisations can contribute to regional and global debates. However, Ravand’s think tank is also a ‘do-tank’ in its capacity to conduct research on salient policy issues; to provide strategic advice at the governmental level; to consult with corporate entities in the fields of energy, finance and industry; and to design customised instructional workshops in a broad range of disciplines.