Laury Haytayan is a Lebanese oil and gas expert in the Middle East and North Africa. Since 2011, she has been leading the parliamentary capacity development portfolio at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) in the MENA region, focusing on the legislative and oversight roles of Arab parliamentarians in advancing reforms in the Middle East Oil and Gas sector.
Personal life
Laury was born to Armenian parents Garabed and Mayram Haytayan on October 13, 1975, exactly six months after the start of the Lebanese Civil War. She was born and raised in Antelias, a town on the coast of the Metn District in the Mount Lebanon Governorate.
Laury pursued her bachelor's degree of Arts in Communication Design from the Lebanese American University in Ras Beirut, an area earlier restricted to Christians. She later earned a master's degree in 'Middle East Politics' from the University of Exeter in Devon, United Kingdom. Laury later shifted her focus to the Oil and Gas Sector in Lebanon, as a means for national development and peace building.
Career life
Laury Haytayan is the MENA Senior Officer at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) formerly the Revenue Watch Institute, a framework of the Natural Resource Charter. She leads both regional parliamentary and media programs and was involved in the development of a MENA extractive industries knowledge hub. Prior to joining NRGI, Haytayan was the executive director of Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption (ARPAC), a chapter within the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption. She worked with parliamentarians from Arab parliament, developing strategies and action plans to strengthen the oversight and legislative capacities of parliamentarians to promote accountability and transparency.
Previously, she was in charge of regional grass root projects focused on promoting the role of women in development and policy making in several GCC countries, specifically in Bahrain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. She also worked as grant manager, advocacy specialist and trainer for several international NGOs, including International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA), and Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), focusing mainly on civil society democracy campaigns in Lebanon and Iraq.
She was invited by the Carter Center for the Election monitoring of the Tunisian parliamentary elections in 2011, the first elections following the Tunisian Revolution and the ousting of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Since 2004, Haytayan started working with different stakeholders such as youth, women, devastated communities and parliamentarians to build "pro-active" societies, and to promote a culture of accountability and transparency, and rule of law in public spheres and institutions.
Laury received the Gold Distinction and Excellence Award by the Arab Women Council in 2014 for her role in promoting social responsibility.
Haytayan was honored on International Women's Day in 2015 by the Green Party of Lebanon for her work in supporting the participation of women in politics.
Publications
"Beirut", Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia, edited by Michael Dumper & Bruce Stanley, December 2006 (English) "Ohanes Pacha", Nairi Armenian Periodical, December 2008 (Arabic) "What Unites Us", Nairi Armenian Periodical, December 2009 (Arabic) "Armenian Christians in Jerusalem: 1700 years of Peaceful Presence", Politics and Religion Journal, Volume V (No.2), autumn 2011 (English)
Articles
Haytayan was featured in the Moscow-based news agency Interfax discussing Lebanon's energy sector. She was quoted saying "Currently, I am not optimistic at all. A system that is incapable to deal with its rubbish is unable to manage a hydrocarbon sector. According to the 3D seismic survey offshore Lebanon, there is great potential. However, the risks in Lebanon are very high, which puts [the country] in a weak position vis-a-vis the companies. The government needs to show real interest in institutional reforms before anything else."
Laury Haytayan, expert in natural resource governance in MENA talks the Voice of America about the challenges and opportunities of oil and gas discoveries in Lebanon, she says: "This goes beyond oil and gas, the sector could be used to rebuild trust in the government"