Experts

Kholofelo Kugler (co-founder of the Trade Policy Exchange) is an international trade lawyer who works at the Advisory Centre on WTO (World Trade Organization) Law (ACWL) in Geneva, Switzerland. She provides legal advice on international trade law issues, represents Members in WTO disputes, and conducts training on various WTO law topics. In addition, she is a Visiting Research Fellow at the law school of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) where she lectures, publishes on international economic law issues, and supervises Masters theses on these topics.

Stéphanie Noël (co-founder of the Trade Policy Exchange) is the principal of S.Noël Law Office (Geneva) specialising in international trade matters. Her practice focuses on WTO law, trade defence, and issues pertaining to the negotiation, implementation of and compliance with preferential trade agreements. In addition, she serves as a member of the editorial board of the Global Trade & Customs Journal.

Nicolas Köhler-Suzuki (co-founder of the Trade Policy Exchange) is a policy advisor on international trade at International Trade Intelligence, a boutique consultancy for trade policy issues in Paris. He has worked with international organisations and national governments and provided expertise on the negotiation and implementation of multilateral and regional trade agreements. Prior to his advisory work, Nicolas was a doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge with a focus on Indian trade agreements.

Tobias Gehrke is a Research Fellow in the Europe in the World Programme at the Egmont: Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels. His research centres on geoeconomics, global economic governance, economic and technology security and the strategic use of trade, investment and other regulatory instruments by the EU and the great powers. He regularly comments on EU trade and investment policy, EU-US-China triangular strategic affairs, geoeconomic strategies of the great powers and connectivity. He is also part of the EU Horizon 2020 Marie Curie research project ‘EU Trade & Investment Policy’ (EUTIP), through which he is pursuing a PhD at Ghent University. 

Emily Rees is a Franco-British national and independent trade analyst with extensive experience in trade policy and economic diplomacy, having led Brazil’s trade agency in Europe and served as French Trade Attaché to Brazil. An economist by training, her expertise lies at the intersection of trade, sustainability and agriculture.A regular lecturer in trade diplomacy, her analyses are regularly featured in European and Latin America media, including The Economist, BBC, Sky News, LN24, Valor Econômico and Folha de São Paulo.

Amrita Saha is research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex. Her work with international organizations and development agencies focuses on trade policy, agriculture, innovation, and political economy questions in development. She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Sussex and her past research roles have included time at the World Trade Organization in Geneva, with the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, and the Ministry of Commerce  and Industry in India. 

Sam Lowe is a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform and a member of the British government's Strategic Trade Advisory Group (2019-). He is also a visiting research fellow at The Policy Institute, Kings College London and a co-founder of the UK Trade Forum. Sam often appears in the media, including the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, The Financial Times, The Times, Politico, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and Sky News. 

  Marta Soprana is a trade policy advisor specialized in trade in services, digital trade and SMEs, bringing over 14 years of experience in the public and private sector.  

Founder of TradePol Consulting, a consulting firm specialized in providing technical assistance and conducting research on services regulation, e-commerce and trade policy formulation, she has advised several LDC and developing country governments, including through bespoke training and coaching. She has also worked as a consultant for a number of international organizations and development partners, including FAO, ITC, UNCTAD, UNESCAP, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Currently pursuing her PhD in international law and economics at Bocconi University, Marta Soprana has published extensively on trade policy issues, including in top ranking peer-reviewed journals in the field of international economic law. Her academic credentials include a Master in International law and Economics (MILE) from the World Trade Institute (WTI) in Bern, and a MA in International Relations from the University of Bologna. 

Dr. Amrita Bahri is an Assistant Professor of International Trade Law at ITAM (Mexico). She is the Co-Chair Professor for WTO Chair Program (Mexico) and International Consultant for Trade & Gender, International Trade Centre. Amrita is the Founding Chair of International Trade & Investment Law Research Group (Law Schools Global League, LSGL) and Founding Member of the South Asian International Economic Law Network (SAIELN). She has a PhD in International Trade Law from University of Birmingham and an LLM in International Business Law from London School of Economics. She has published in the areas of international trade law, WTO dispute settlement, capacity-building in emerging economies, trade negotiations, regional trade and gender justice.  

Dr Weihuan Zhou is Associate Professor and Co-Director of the China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre at the Faculty of Law and Justice, University of New South Wales Sydney. He publishes widely in the field of international economic law, particularly on the nexus between international trade law and China. His work has been cited in reports of the European Parliament, the Parliament of Australia, Australia’s Productivity Commission, US Congressional Research Services and World Economic Forum. Dr Zhou is co-Secretary of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) and sits on the editorial boards of the World Trade Review and the Journal of International Trade Law and Policy.

Rodolfo C. Rivas is a Senior Counsellor based in Geneva. He specializes in WTO Law, Trade Policy, Negotiation and Arbitration. He is a Member of the Management Board of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pension Plan and member of the WTO List of Panelists to hear WTO disputes. He holds a J.D. equivalent degree from Universidad Panamericana (Mexico) and LL.M. degrees from Universitat d’Alacant (Spain) and Stanford Law School (US); MBA degree in International Management from University of London (UK). Creator and host of “The Rodolfo Rivas Project” (rodolforivasproject.com) podcast.

Sabina Ciofu works as Head of EU and Trade Policy for techUK, the largest trade association for tech businesses in the United Kingdom. Splitting her time between London and Brussels, she covers a wide range of policy issues, ranging from the EU tech agenda to digital trade in ongoing FTA negotiations and the broader multilateral agenda. Prior to this, she worked as Policy Advisor in the European Parliament for almost a decade, where she focused on EU tech regulation, international trade and EU-US relations. Sabina is the founder of the Gentlewomen’s Club, co-organiser of the Young Professionals in Digital Policy and a member of the Global Shapers Brussels Hub, where she has led several youth civic engagement and gender equality projects. She holds an MA in War Studies from King’s College London and a BA in Classics from the University of Cambridge.

Rian Geldenhuys is the CEO of Trade Law Chambers a leading international trade law firm in South Africa. He provides legal advice on international trade law to multinationals, governments and inter-governmental institutions. In addition he serves on the Trade Policy Committee of Business Unity South Africa as well as the Trade and Investment Task Force the B20 (an official engagement Group established within the framework of the G20).

Hermance de la Bastide works for Pernod Ricard, a multinational company in the spirit drinks and wine sector. She is based in Hong Kong as VP Corporate Affairs and Sustainability. In the past ten years she held different positions in the company in Geneva, Brussels, Washington DC and Beijing, always focusing on multilateral affairs and international trade and encouraging multi-stakeholder discussions. She holds an EMBA from IMD in Lausanne.. 

George Riddell currently works as Director of Trade Strategy at EY in London. He has a decade of experience in International Trade and is responsible for advising multinational corporations on trade and Brexit related issues at EY. Before that, George spent six years with the FCO where he represented the UK at the WTO and several UN organisations. During that time he was also seconded to the Kenyan Trade Minister as a Special Advisor during the Tenth WTO Ministerial Conference in 2015. George has a keen interest in services trade as well as the intersection of trade and environmental issues.

'Harvard educated, Ms. Dookhony is an economist with 20 years of experience advising government and industry leaders.  She is the Managing Partner of Rwenzori Consulting.  The primary focus of her work is Private sector development with a focus on business, investment, and trade. She was the Senior Strategy Advisor to the Ministry of Trade of Rwanda from 2014-2015.  In Burundi, she was the advisor to the Ministry of trade and regional integration.  She has worked on Trade promotion, negotiation, and development for Mauritius, Rwanda, Burundi, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Benin.  She negotiated and has advised on bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade, investment, and economic agreements. She managed the process of lowering customs duty regime in Mauritius through her work at the Ministry of Finance in Mauritius'

Wakako Oshima, the founder & CEO of Asteri Co., Ltd., is an U.S. licensed lawyer with top-tier law firm and in-house legal counsel experience at multinational corporations, including deKieffer & Horgan PLLC, Shearman & Sterling LLP, GE International and The Walt Disney Company (Japan) Ltd   (held the Head of Legal Department positions at various corporations). She negotiates and provides strategic business advise, with holistic approach, on multiple cross-border business transactions/projects, including general corporate matters, with a central focus on implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into business management. Wakako also has been closely working with the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Network Japan on issues related to CSR/SDGs and is a member of AKK's 7th graduating class (AKK means "Think of Tomorrow's Business Management" and is a UNGC Network Japan's study group, annually comprised of board members/business leaders of private enterprise from different industries). 

Franziska is Associate Professor at the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where she teaches courses in International Trade Law, Public International Law and Moot at both masters and undergraduate level (since 2011). She holds a doctorate in law from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Germany (summa cum laude) and serves as a treasurer of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL). Franziska was, inter alia, a Visiting Researcher at the Universitat de Barcelona (Oct-Dec 2017), a Visiting Research Fellow at the World Trade Institute (WTI), Berne (May‒July 2013) and a Visiting Researcher at the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights & International Law (SAIFAC), Johannesburg (2009‒2011). Prior to working in South Africa, she was a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany (2006‒2010) and a Legal Adviser in the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GTZ/GIZ, a governmental aid & development agency), Accra (Ghana) for the Good Governance Programme, Revenue Mobilisation Support (in 2006).

 Dr. Olabisi D. Akinkugbe is an Assistant Professor at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in law from the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. His research interests cut across International Economic Law, with particular focus on Africa; International Law & Economic Development; Africa’s International Courts; and, Public-Private Partnerships in Africa. Dr. Akinkugbe is a founding editor of Afronomicslaw.org and the African Journal of International Economic Law. Afronomicslaw hosts blogs on all aspects of international economic law as they relate to Africa and the Global South. Dr. Akinkugbe was the President of the African International Economic Law Network between 2018-2020.  

Christian Knebel is an Economic Affairs Officer at United Nations Conference for Trade and Development. He manages technical cooperation projects and provides advisory services on trade policy and negotiation strategy. He leads UNCTAD’s support programme to the African Union on the implementation of the AfCFTA Non-Tariff Barriers mechanism. Specializing on research regarding non-tariff measures and regulatory cooperation, he has drafted reports on the AfCFTA, ECOWAS, SADC, ASEAN and MERCOSUR. He was a visiting lecturer at the World Trade Institute. Previously, he worked at the International Trade Centre where he conducted and analyzed private sector surveys on obstacles to trade in various countries. He studied International Economics at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Sara Núñez Évora is a Global Trade & Customs Manager at On AG, a sports apparel and footwear Swiss company. As part of her role, Sara is involved in the set up of the Trade & Customs practice in-house covering a wide range of topics such as tariff classification, customs valuation, preferential treatment, customs brokerage management, audits, customs documentation, etc. Previously, Sara worked for the private sector advising companies on customs topics as well as for international institutions and governments on trade policy in Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

Colette is an international trade lawyer with a specialty in trade and sustainable development. As founder and director of TULIP, a Geneva-based consulting firm, Colette advises governments and international organizations on issues at the intersection of trade law and development policy. Colette also serves as Director of the Trade for Development Initiative at Sidley Austin – a pro bono program focused on helping developing countries achieve sustainable development through the strategic use of trade law. Previously, she worked as an international trade lawyer at Sidley Austin’s international dispute settlement practice in Geneva, representing governments in their disputes at the World Trade Organization. Colette holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a BA from Middlebury College. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences, and publishes regularly for various outlets on trade and sustainable development. Colette is a member of the New York Bar.  

Renata Amaral is based in Washington DC. Has extensive and proven record of successful engagement at the WTO, bilateral trade negotiations and domestic trade policy market access. Holds a PhD from Maastricht University (the Netherlands) and the title of Doctor of Laws from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, and is the founder of Women Inside Trade Association, a networking group which work focus on influencing and strengthening the international trade community as well as providing visibility to the work of excellence developed by women on international trade. She is currently the co-Director of the Certificate Program on WTO and US Trade Law and Policy at the Washington College of Law at American University.

Jennifer works in Ireland’s Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment. She is the first dedicated trade lawyer for the EU Affairs, Trade Policy & Licensing division of the department. Prior to this, Jennifer held various international trade & customs roles in the consulting and legal advisory space. She has worked primarily in private practice, apart from a few fixed-term stints in the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund. From boutique trade firms to Big 4 firms, her clients have included sovereigns and, in her most recent private sector role, she grew a large book of business covering sectors such as agri, prepared consumer food & beverage, retail, tech, & pharma. Since moving home to Dublin in 2015, Jennifer has been active in increasing the understanding in Ireland of international trade & Brexit implications, incl. through involvement in various industry groups. She’s admitted to the Bar of Ireland and New York and has studied in Ireland, France & Australia (Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne).

  Françoise Guei LLM is a trade policy and development advisor. She is specialized in international trade law and WTO law. Over the past 13 years, Mrs. Guei’s work has focused on WTO-related issues. In that connection, she has served in various capacities including trade negotiator for Côte d’Ivoire at the WTO, legal affairs officer at WTO Secretariat and then independent technical advisor to developing country governments. In this last capacity, she provides curated advice and technical expertise including negotiation strategies on issues related to their market access at regional and multilateral level. More recently, she has worked for the Group of states of African, Caribbean and Pacific as expert in multilateral trade issues, where she assisted the ACP Group in the negotiations of their new partnership with the EU.  Besides, she is also a visiting lecturer in international trade law at the University of Paris-Dauphine.  

Mrs. Guei is now driven by trade related activities aiming to implement sustainable development goals.

  Dr. Jan Yves Natalie Remy is an international trade lawyer who, over the course of her career, has advised governments and private stakeholders on international trade matters, with a focus on litigating disputes under the auspices of the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO). 

Jan Yves is the Deputy Director of the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services (the SRC). She lectures in the SRC’s flagship Masters in International Trade Policy (MITP) programme, in the areas of international trade law and e-commerce, and conducts outreach and research on behalf of the Centre.

She previously worked as Senior Associate at Sidley Austin LLP (Geneva and Washington D.C.) and before that as Legal Officer at the Appellate Body of the WTO. 

Jan Yves holds an undergraduate degree in law from the University of the West Indies (Hons); a masters from the University of Cambridge (Hons); and a PhD (summa cum laude) from the Graduate Institute of Development Studies on the Role of the Caribbean Court of Justice in Caribbean integration. 

Terfa Ashwe is a lawyer specialising in international trade law and governance. She has experience in international law and trade policy, and has worked on trade and development, regional integration, and business competitiveness at the national, sub-regional, and international levels of governance. 

Ms Ashwe started her career in Nigeria where she was junior counsel in a reputable law firm. She worked with the Department of political affairs at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). At the World Trade Organization (WTO) she worked on negotiations and as a research associate in the Office of the Director-General, Roberto Azevedo, before moving to the Development Division. Terfa returned to Nigeria and took up the position of senior trade negotiator in the newly created Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN). At NOTN she participated in negotiations and in-country consultations on the African Continental Free Trade Area before moving to the International Trade Centre as a Consultant and National Coordinator for the SheTrades Commonwealth Project in Nigeria. 

She currently leads the ITC’s in-country implementation of the SheTrades Commonwealth project by developing and delivering business support and capacity building on international trade and competitiveness to small and medium-sized enterprises and relevant stakeholders.

Terfa holds a bachelors degree in Law, and joined the Nigerian Bar in 2010. She has a post-graduate masters degree in international economic law from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. 

Her professional interests are in trade and inclusivity, economic growth and sustainable development. 

Twitter: @Adaletspeaks

  Kekeletso Mashigo is an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and an international trade and investment lawyer. She is head of legal responsible for international trade, investment and dispute settlement in the Trade Policy, Negotiations and Cooperation Branch of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. She provides in-house legal and policy advise on international trade law, investment law and dispute settlement issues. She also represents Government as a negotiator in national, bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade and investment negotiations. In addition, she is Co-chair of South Africa’s WTO National Trade Facilitation Committee. Prior to heading the legal unit, she managed the department’s Multilateral desk and was responsible for trade and investment engagements with the WTO, OECD, UNCTAD, G20, and UNCITRAL. In addition, she has previously managed the department’s Europe desk being responsible for SA-EU Trade relations and has also worked at the National Treasury as a Legal Tax Specialist responsible for Business Tax.  

  Clara Weinhardt is Assistant Professor in International Relations at Maastricht University and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin. Her research focusses on global trade governance, with a particular interest in the position of developing countries. She currently works on the evolution of Special and Differential Treatment provisions for developing countries in WTO negotiations, with an emphasis on the role of China, Brazil and India.

Craig Atkinson is the Director of Lexmerca International Trade, a Consultant with the International Trade Centre (ITC) and a Fellow with Stanford University (Stanford Law School). His expertise is focused on law that affects the digital transformation of international commerce and computational methods for trade policy design. In this context, Craig has also contributed to the World Economic Forum’s Inclusive Growth Framework and the World Trade Organization’s Enhanced Integrated Framework

Stephanie Ghislain leads the "Trade & Animal Welfare" Programme  at Eurogroup for Animals, the pan-European animal advocacy organisation representing 70 members based in the EU and beyond. Eurogroup for Animals’ “Trade & Animal Welfare” Programme acts as a constructive partner to EU decision makers offering WTO compatible  solutions to problems identified in connection with trade and animal welfare. Before joining Eurogroup for Animals, Stephanie worked six years in a consulting firm, primarily advising companies and governments on EU trade policy. She was Eurogroup for Animals'  representative on the Commission’s Expert Group on Trade Negotiations and sits on the EU Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) created under the trade agreements with Ukraine, Canada, Japan and Singapore.

Shirley Martey Hargis is Deputy Program Manager at CRDF Global, spearheading their new China Technology Transfer and Emerging Technologies programs, leading a team to provide solutions to US Department of State offices. She is China Watcher for POLITICO’s China Watcher newsletter. Hargis is Senior Advisor (China) for the Oxford Diplomatic Society at the University of Oxford, providing strategic insights about US-China relations from the US perspective, including US-China trade relations and Inter-Asia trade. As Chinese-Language Intelligence Analyst, she monitored state-sponsored disinformation campaigns for the US intelligence community and Department of Defense. Hargis has provided political, economic, and security-related risk assessments for Taiwan-based Franklin/Templeton SinoAm, the US Department of State, and defense agencies about US-China-Taiwan trilateralism. She has lived and worked in China and Taiwan, speaks professional-level Mandarin, and has native fluency in three African languages, and provides a unique regional versatility of Africa, Latin-America, and Russia in China affairs.

Sara P. Schoenfeld is an international trade attorney based in New York. Sara is the President and CEO of The Trade Impact Foundation, a nonprofit organization seeking to understand the impact of international trade on peace and global human rights, and to optimize the positive impact.

She is also on the board of the Organization for Women in International Trade (OWIT) NY Chapter, has co-authored articles on trade remedies, trade policy, OECD BEPS impact on customs valuation, and free trade agreements, and more, and is an experienced speaker on topics of international trade law, operations and policy.

Sara has years of experience as an international trade consultant at Ernst & Young LLP, advising top multinational corporations on international trade rules and regulations, strategic planning, compliance and risk assessment, and controversy

 Morten Petersen is an experienced EU Public Policy Consultant with long-standing expertise in trade policy, with special focus on trade remedy, trade negotiations, customs and other market access related issues.

Since 2016, climate change policies and UK’s decision to leave the EU have caught his special attention permitting to accumulating substantial expertise on issues heavily influencing Trade policy and Trade Geopolitics.

Today, Morten practice under his own Brussels based consultancy European Business Advisory having earlier worked for European Commission DG Trade and DG Competition. He has a degree in International Trade.

Tracey runs the International Trade Law practice at Chapman Tripp, in Wellington, New Zealand. She assists private sector and government clients, both in New Zealand and internationally. Her practice covers a broad range of trade- and investment-related issues, including WTO-compliance issues, implementation of WTO and Free Trade Agreements, and various issues related to import and export formalities, trade remedies, sanctions and export controls.  Prior to joining Chapman Tripp, Tracey was a senior legal advisor at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Her role included acting as lead legal counsel for New Zealand’s negotiating team in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. She recently served as a panel member in the WTO Article 22.6 arbitration in United States – Large Civil Aircraft. Tracey holds an LLM and SJD from the University of Toronto. She teaches International Trade Regulation and International Investment Law at the University of Otago, and has published extensively.  She chairs the International Trade Law Committee of the International Pacific Bar Association (IPBA).

 Nicolás Schubert (LL.M. int.) is a digital trade policy expert at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile. He was the lead negotiator of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA). He previously served as Chief of Staff to the Director-General for International Economic Affairs (DIRECON) and chief negotiator of the services, e-commerce, and telecommunications chapters of the Pacific Alliance and the Agreement on Trade in Services (TiSA). He also participated in negotiating the Telecommunications, Electronic Commerce, and Intellectual Property Chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). He previously participated in negotiations on Intellectual Property in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He also took part in several bilateral negotiations.

Rutendo Tavengerwei is an international trade law advisor with specific experience on African trade related issues. Rutendo has worked with different international and national organisations including the World Trade Organisation, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the European Union and the African Union, advising mainly on digital trade and e-commerce, trade facilitation as well as widely on trade in goods. Rutendo has also published in the field of international economic law and is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford.