Efgan Nifti is the Chief Executive Officer and the board member of the Caspian Policy Center (CPC). He was born in Republic of Georgia and completed his undergraduate education in Turkey. Mr. Nifti received his graduate degrees in International and Political Journalism at Georgetown University, and European and Eurasian Studies from the George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs. He previously worked for Georgetown University as a research assistant and as a faculty development coordinator and lecturer for Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA). His areas of expertise include energy security, political economy and international affairs of the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Caspian. One of his policy research papers that called “Energy Future of Europe and the Southern Gas Corridor” was selected as one of the best policy papers in 2013 by the University of Pennsylvania. He regularly testifies and makes presentations on critical policy issues of the Caspian Region in various international organizations including NATO, European Union and UN and international conferences. His commentaries and articles also appeared in major news media including Bloomberg, Foreign Affairs, CNN, NTV, MSNBC etc. Mr. Nifti also led multiple field study and expert delegation visits to South Caucasus and Central Asia. Under his leadership Caspian Policy Center organized major events including Trans-Caspian Forums, Caspian Business Forum and other high level policy dialogues.