Josep Desquens

Josep Desquens is the General Director of Cooperation at the Government of Catalonia. Previously, he was the Managing Director of the CCCB, Barcelona’s Center for Contemporary Culture, and vice-president of the Tot Raval Foundation. He holds a degree in Business Administration from ESADE and a diploma from the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS), which he obtained further to studying at the Haute École d’Études Commerciales (HEC) in Paris. He also holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. He has worked for a decade in development cooperation in conflict-affected countries. From 2010 to 2016, he was a programme manager at the Jerusalem Office of the European Union Representative to the West Bank and Gaza. Previously, he worked in Kabul as resident representative in Afghanistan of the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), as well as head of the Regional Office of the Kosovo Trust Agency in Peja/Peć within the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). He also collaborated with the United Nations Development Programme in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Prior to his experience in Cooperation, he developed his career in the private sector in several financial institutions in London, Paris and New York.