Gino Van Begin joined ICLEI in January 2000.  He has been ICLEI's Regional Director for Europe since 2002, and was appointed Deputy Secretary-General of ICLEI in 2007.

Mr Van Begin brings 23 years of work experience in international institutions and organisations to this position. Before joining ICLEI, Gino worked in Russia for seven years (1993 –1999) setting up EU LIFE funded Environmental Centres (ECATs) in the cities of Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg.

He started his career at the European Commission’s Directorate General I (External Relations) in 1987, and moved on to work at the Commission’s Secretariat General as well as at Directorate General XI (Environment) until 1993. He also worked at the Cabinet of the Vice-President of the Government of Flanders and Minister of Economy, Small Business and Energy.

Mr Van Begin was a member of the EU Expert Group to the European Commission on the Urban Environment from 2003 until 2006. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign since 2000, and is a co-drafter of the Aalborg Commitments on urban sustainability, to which more than 640 cities and towns in Europe have adhered since its launch in 2004.

Mr Van Begin undertakes an official observer status on behalf of ICLEI at the COP negotiations on Climate Change as well as an expert role at the Council of Europe, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe.

Gino Van Begin was born in Belgium and graduated from the University of Brussels as a lawyer in 1987. He is the father of two children and speaks Dutch, French, English, German and Russian.

Please contact Mr Van Begin at iclei-europe@iclei.org.