Ambassador Marc Otte acts as Senior Advisor to Conciliation Resources EU EU/mediatEUr on the Middle East and North Africa region; as well as advising on strategy and operations. Before his retirement, Marc Otte was a Belgian diplomat, who served in Washington DC and Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and was Consul General in Los Angeles, as well as Ambassador to Israel. He was also Director for strategic affairs and disarmament and Director for policy planning at the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1999 to 2003, he was Advisor for security and defence policy to the High Representative for EU foreign and security policy, and from 2003 to 2011, EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process. He was Director General of the Egmont Institute from 2013 to 2017. He also served as the Belgian Special Envoy for Syria, and is currently Vice-President of the European Institute for Peace.