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Duval College guest speaker to talk about Afghanistan

May 31, 2006

A UNE graduate in Rural Science who has worked as an agricultural development team leader and consultant in nine countries in Asia and Eastern Europe will be the speaker at this year’s Duval College Guest Speaker Dinner at The University of New England.

Richard Hicks will fly back from Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina to speak at the annual dinner, on the evening of Thursday 1 June, at Duval College. His talk will be titled “Afghanistan ... a development fiasco”.

Mr Hicks worked in Afghanistan as an agricultural consultant for Relief International, and as a director of agricultural projects for the US-based Citizens’ Network for Foreign Affairs, between 2003 and 2006. He is currently team leader of an agricultural support program in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has also worked in Kosova, Albania, Indonesia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Turkey and China.

He is a former Resident Fellow of Duval College, and graduated from UNE with a Bachelor of Rural Science degree in 1979 and a Master of Rural Science degree in 1986. He has lived and worked in some of the world’s most difficult war-torn areas, and has an international reputation for understanding and dealing with significant economic reforms and policy issues, with a strong focus on promoting sustainable economic expansion in agriculture. His friends and colleagues say he is “someone who makes every opportunity a winner”.

The dinner (which is for college members and guests only) will precede the talk (which will be open to the public). The talk is scheduled to begin at about 8 pm. For more information or bookings, ring Duval College on (02) 6773 6700.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at May 31, 2006 11:19 AM