Albert F. Park is Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Director General of its Economic Research and Development Impact Department. He is chief spokesperson on economic and development trends and leads the production of ADB’s flagship knowledge products and support for regional cooperation fora. He has more than 2 decades of experience as a development economist and is a well-known expert on the economy of the People’s Republic of China. He has worked on a broad range of development issues including poverty and inequality, intergenerational mobility, microfinance, migration and labor markets, the future of work, and foreign investment.

He is Chair Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Economic Policy at HKUST (on leave). He served as a founding director of HKUST’s Institute for Emerging Market Studies and professor at the University of Oxford. A national of the United States, he received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University and his doctorate in applied economics from Stanford University.

Amy Stuart is the Counsellor (Services and Investment) at the Australian Permanent Mission to the WTO in Geneva, with responsibility for a range of portfolios including leading Australia’s engagement with UNCTAD and Australia’s leadership as Co-Convenor of WTO Ecommerce negotiations (involving 86 countries). Amy has previously served at the Australian Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta and as a senior negotiator in a range of trade negotiations including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the ASEAN-Australia New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA), the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement and bilateral FTA negotiations with the European Union.

Pramila A. Crivelli is an economist at the Economic Research and Development Impact Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). She also currently works on a short-term assignment in ADB’s Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination Division of the Central and West Asia Department. Her main fields of specialization include applied econometrics, international trade policy, negotiations, and implementation of regional trade agreements, particularly in the areas of market access and rules of origin. At ADB, her current work also covers digital trade policy, aid for trade, LDC graduation, and digital services. Before joining ADB in November 2020, Dr. Crivelli was an assistant professor at the Goethe University Frankfurt, where she led the Chair of International Trade. Her work has been published in academic peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of International Economics and The World Economy. With strong expertise in applied economic policy and technical cooperation, she has served as an economic affairs officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, a researcher at the European University Institute, and the World Trade Organization. Dr. Crivelli has extensive experience in delivering capacity-building and advisory services to governments, public and private institutions, and trade negotiators in multilateral and regional fora. She has also carried out consultancies for various clients in Asia and Africa. She received her PhD in economics from the University of Geneva.

Jong Woo Kang is Director of Regional Cooperation and Integration Division at the Economic Research and Development Impact Department (ERDI) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). As director, he plays a role as an interface between ADB’s internal and external stakeholders on regional cooperation and integration. He is a seasoned economist with extensive knowledge and experiences on policy and strategic issues. He was Principal Economist at ERDI, Senior Advisor to the Managing Director General of ADB, and Senior Economist at the Strategy, Policy, and Partnerships Department at ADB. He leads the annual publication of Asian Economic Integration Report. Areas of his research interest include regional integration, inclusive growth, macroeconomic policies, international trade and finance, and aid effectiveness. He published articles in economics journals such as Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Applied Economics, and Journal of World Trade. Before joining ADB, he was director at the Ministry of Finance and Economy of the Republic of Korea until 2006. He had got his bachelor’s degree in economics and master’s in public administration from Seoul National University, and PhD in economics from University of Washington.

Pramila A. Crivelli is an economist at the Economic Research and Development Impact Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). She also currently works on a short-term assignment in ADB’s Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination Division of the Central and West Asia Department. Her main fields of specialization include applied econometrics, international trade policy, negotiations, and implementation of regional trade agreements, particularly in the areas of market access and rules of origin. At ADB, her current work also covers digital trade policy, aid for trade, LDC graduation, and digital services. Before joining ADB in November 2020, Dr. Crivelli was an assistant professor at the Goethe University Frankfurt, where she led the Chair of International Trade. Her work has been published in academic peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of International Economics and The World Economy. With strong expertise in applied economic policy and technical cooperation, she has served as an economic affairs officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, a researcher at the European University Institute, and the World Trade Organization. Dr. Crivelli has extensive experience in delivering capacity-building and advisory services to governments, public and private institutions, and trade negotiators in multilateral and regional fora. She has also carried out consultancies for various clients in Asia and Africa. She received her PhD in economics from the University of Geneva.

As the first president of the Lee & Ko Global Commerce Institute (GCI) newly established in September 2017, Taeho Bark, together with the GCI team members working under his supervision, monitors new developments and trends in global trade and investment, analyzes major international trade dispute cases and provides in-depth advice and strategic insights to Korean and foreign enterprises in connection with their trade and investment related planning and concerns. In his capacity as president of the GCI, Dr. Bark will be implementing a program of special educational lectures on practical trade issues and policies for representatives of various interested companies and institutions.

Taeho Bark is an internationally renowned trade expert and, among other accomplishments, is a Seoul National University (SNU) Professor Emeritus, who has lectured extensively on international commerce and related subjects, and former Dean of the SNU Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS). In addition to his academic career, Dr. Bark has extensive experience serving as a public official working on trade policy and negotiation matters, having served with distinction as Minister for Trade of the Korean government (December 2011 - March 2013), as well as serving as the Ambassador-at-Large for International Trade and as the Chairman of the International Trade Commission of Korea.

Henry Gao is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and a law professor at Singapore Management University. With law degrees from three continents, he started his career as the first Chinese lawyer at the WTO Secretariat. As a leading expert on digital trade and e-commerce issues, he has been an advisor on digital trade issues for many national governments as well as the WTO, UN, World Bank, ADB, APEC, ASEAN and the World Economic Forum. Widely published on digital trade issues, he has been cited in the World Trade Report by the WTO and the Digital Economy Report by UNCTAD. He sits on the Advisory Board of the WTO Chairs Program, which was established by the WTO Secretariat in 2009 to promote research and teaching on WTO issues in leading universities around the world. He is also a member of editorial boards of the Journal of International Economic Law and Journal of Financial Regulation, both published by Oxford University Press. He’s currently working on issues relating to digital trade, [People’s Republic of] China and WTO, and WTO reform. His most recent work is a paper analyzing [People’s Republic of] China’s changing perspectives on the WTO, which was quoted as an “invaluable” paper by the Financial Times in its feature article on [People’s Republic of] China’s 20th anniversary in the WTO.

Rolando Avendano is an Economist at the Economic Research and Cooperation Department of the Asian Development Bank. His research focuses on financial and international economics, with an emphasis on regional integration, competitiveness and foreign direct investment.

Prior to joining ADB, he worked for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France. He was partnership coordinator of PARIS21 (OECD Statistics and Data Directorate), economist with the Director’s Office and the Americas Desk (OECD Development Centre), and research associate with the OECD Trade Directorate and Economics Department. Previously, he was a lecturer at the Engineering Faculty of University of Los Andes (Colombia), and research associate at University College London (UK).

A French and Colombian national, he holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from University of Los Andes and a Master and PhD in Economics from the Paris School of Economics (PSE).