Low Yen Ling was elected as a Member of Parliament for Chua Chu Kang GRC in the 2011, 2015 and 2020 General Elections. She is presently the Minister of State for the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY). Prior to that, she was the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Education (MOE) from 2015 till July 2020 and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) from 2018 till July 2020. She had also previously held office in the Ministry of Social and Family Development (2013–2015), MCCY (2014–2015) and MTI (2015–2018).

Ms Low began her career in the private sector with experience in financial institutions and a start-up venture. Thereafter, she joined the Singapore Economic Development Board and in her decade of service, played a key role in strengthening Singapore’s entrepreneurial landscape and professional services sector. In 2011, she became Chief Executive Officer of Business China, an organisation nurturing Chinese biculturalism, bilingualism and collaboration with China. With her strong bicultural and bilingual background, she spearheaded unique programmes to immerse business leaders in China and deepen young Singaporeans’ knowledge of modern China.

Drawing on her strong ties with the local business community, Ms Low is presently Advisor for the Singapore Business Federation’s (SBF) SME Committee (SMEC) and Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (SCCCI) Trade Association Committee (TACOM). She also serves on the multi-agency national SG Clean taskforce to uphold high standards of public and personal hygiene beyond Covid-19. In addition, Ms Low is Chairperson of the Mayors’ Committee and Mayor of South West District.

With a heart for the underprivileged, Ms Low continues to serve as a board member of the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) where she steers its Student and Parent Education Committee to expand the organisation’s reach and support to low-income students and families. Under her leadership, CDAC and its partners have established more than 20 Big Heart Student Care centres island- wide to provide after-school care to students of all races. Ms Low also contributes in the area of education as a member of the PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Executive Committee.

In her past role as MOE’s Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ms Low led the ministry’s efforts to strengthen students’ foundation in their learning of the Chinese language. In her capacity as Chairman of the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (CPCLL), Vice- Chairperson of the Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism, and Advisor to the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL), Ms Low expanded the breadth and depth of public outreach programmes that attracted increased participation from pre-schoolers, youths and parents.

Ms Low also spearheaded the drive to improve communications and public awareness of SkillsFuture, the national lifelong learning movement. These efforts were synergistic with her responsibility as Senior Parliamentary Secretary of MTI where she aligned the government’s SkillsFuture thrust with several Industry Transformation Maps (ITM) to help businesses meet the challenges of a changing economy. At MOM, Ms Low advanced the interests and skills of workers, focusing on older Singaporeans, women and young graduates.

As a mother of two school-going children, Ms Low spends the free time she has mostly with her family.

Rupa Chanda is the Director of Trade, Investment, and Innovation at UN ESCAP. Earlier, she worked as a Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and was an Economist at the IMF in Washington, DC. She holds a PhD from Columbia University and BA from Harvard University. Her research interests include the WTO, international trade in services, regional integration, health services, and migration. She has served on national and international committees and advisory boards in these areas and has undertaken research for several international organizations and think tanks, including the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), OECD, European Commission, World Bank and ICRIER. She has published extensively in the form of authored and edited books, journal articles, book chapters, reports, and popular media articles. She frequently presents in national and international forums.

Abdurahmonzoda Abdurahmon is Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan and Chairman of SPECA Working Group on Trade. He has been Awarded with the Certificate of Merit of the Government of Tajikistan “For impeccable services in the performance of official duties, development of the economy and trade during the period of state independence of the Republic of Tajikistan.” He is a honorable teacher in Faculty of Finance and Economics of the Tajik National University.

Mohammad Saeed working with ITC as Senior Adviser, Trade Facilitation and Policy for Business.

Worked with UNCTAD as Senior Technical Adviser on Trade and Transport Facilitation.

Served as Panelist (DS 392) and Chairman of Dispute Panels, DS 404, 474 and 484 of the WTO.

Also worked as Lead negotiator for Pakistan in WTO negotiations on Trade Facilitation, Non-Agriculture Market Access; strategizing and supervising the negotiations on TRIPS and Dispute Settlement; and responsible officer for providing technical inputs and policy advice in negotiations on environment and development.

Chairman, WTO Committee on Customs Valuation 2009, Committee on Market Access for the years 2006, 2007 & 2008; and Vice- Chairman, General Assembly of Advisory Centre on WTO Law, Geneva for 2006–10.

Faculty at various institutes of training and professional development.

Specialties: Over 25 years experience in trade and tariff policy formulation; project planning and management; research and training; international cooperation, and trade negotiations at the regional and multilateral levels.

Yann Duval is currently Chief of Trade Policy and Facilitation Section at UN-ESCAP, the regional branch of the United Nations Secretariat for Asia and the Pacific. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Duval has conducted research and delivered technical assistance and advisory services on trade policy and facilitation throughout Asia and the Pacific, including on the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. He spearheaded the development of the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), as well as, interalia, the creation of the ESCAP-World Bank Trade Cost Database, the UN Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation and the online Trade Intelligence and Negotiation Adviser (TINA). Dr. Duval was also instrumental in the development of the United Nations Network of Experts for Paperless Trade and Transport in Asia and the Pacific (UNNExT) and the negotiation of a new intergovernmental Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific, a UN treaty entered into force in February 2021.

Prior to joining the UN, he held faculty positions at the Asian Institute of Technology and Washington State University, USA.

Domingos Antunes started his career in the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce, and Industry (MTCI) of Timor-Leste in July 2017 as a Policy and Planning Adviser. He later served as a Trade and Industrial Policy Adviser up to June 2020. Upon this, Mr. Antunes has elaborated MTCI’s long-term strategic plan to diversify Timor-Leste’s trade, industrial and tourism sector. This diversification aims to provide more sustainable job creations and a decent income, support the national private sector for exporting and promote the enabling trade and investment environment.

Mr. Antunes has led several roles and provided technical support while working with the MTCI, which required a successful trade and industrial policy action plan’s implementation. He coordinated technical support preparations for Timor-Leste accessions to the World Trade Organization (WTO), EU Economic Partnership (EPA) and ASEAN Economic Community. Mr. Antunes supported the studies and development of the first Timor-Leste’s industrial park in Liquica Municipality, developing and promoting value chain for import substitution and export, supporting the establishment of a loan guarantee scheme for M-SMEs with UNDP, and supporting current initiatives of the reform on commercial, industrial and tourism licenses. Furthermore, he has defined and as co-author of the first- ever Timor-Leste industrial policy document and embedded the value chain tool. He is also currently drafting and supporting the development of Timor-Leste trade policy and trade strategy as the ADB co-financing partner under the Capacity for Regional Economic Integration Project.

Before his ministry role, Mr. Antunes served as a GIZ Senior Advisor in the Innovative Employment Promotion Project (IEO) in August 2015. The MTCI and MAF as the primary implementation partners, while the target groups were entrepreneurs, traders, and cooperatives. The IEP project focused on promoting value chains to identify and create income and employment opportunities. Mr. Antunes has significantly performed as a value chain specialist, and GIZ applied the value chain in cooperation with its political partners (MTCI) at national and local levels.

Currently, Mr. Antunes is also serving as UN-ESCAP national consultant for cross-border paperless trade to assess the legal and technical preparedness of Timor-Leste with International Experts for cross-border paperless trade. Besides, Mr. Antunes is also serving INTEGRA-USAID Timor-Leste as a National Expert for Customs Reform Project with the Ministry of Finance of Timor-Leste as a political counterpart. Both projects address Timor-Leste’s trade facilitation needs, particularly in rapid digitalizing global economy, improving current customs status and operating environment, legal and regulatory environment, and compliance with international practices. Before working with GIZ and the government (MTCI), Mr.

Antunes worked as Project Manager and Senior Program Officer on the community development project for more than seven years with MercyCorps and ChildFund Timor-Leste.

Academically, Mr. Antunes holds a master’s degree with a specialization in International Business from the Nordland University of Norway and has a bachelor’s in economics from the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL). He has participated in several conferences related to trade, industry, tourism, trade facilitation, and energy in Norway and Timor-Leste and in many different countries during his academic years.

Ronald Antonio Butiong oversees and coordinates ADB’s overall regional cooperation and integration (RCI) operations by providing relevant strategic and technical advice. He develops and maintains thematic policies, strategies, operational plans, and directional papers to guide bankwide regional cooperation and integration work and ensures alignment with ADB’s Strategy 2030.

Mr. Butiong has over 25 years of professional experience working on regional cooperation and integration and country programming. He joined ADB in February 2004 as a Programs Specialist - Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) in the former Mekong Department. He progressed to Senior Regional Cooperation Specialist and GMS Unit Head, Southeast Asia Department (SERD) in June 2008, and in February 2010, transferred to the Central and West Asia Department (CWRD) to head the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Unit. He was promoted to IS6 in CWRD in December 2010, and in October 2012, he was transferred to South Asia Department (SARD) to head the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Unit. In April 2016, he was promoted to the position of Director of the Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination Division (SARC), SARD.

Mr. Butiong was a consultant responsible for various technical assistance projects promoting subregional cooperation in ADB’s developing member countries. He was Assistant Vice President and Head of Investments of the Trust Banking Group of the erstwhile Far East Bank and Trust Company (FEBTC) in the Philippines.

Mr. Butiong holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics from Louisiana State University, United States, and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics from De La Salle University, Philippines in 1985. He also holds a Certificate in FEBTC- Executive Development Program from the Asian Institute of Management, Philippines.

Cuong Ba Tran is the Assistant Director, Head of Trade Facilitation Division, the ASEAN Secretariat. He joined the ASEAN Secretariat on 2 September 2018.

His main duties are to provide technical advice and policy recommendation pertaining to customs and trade facilitation, trade in goods, rules of origin, ASEAN Single Window (ASW), and ASEAN Customs Transit System (ACTS) issues. He also provides support for the implementation of those areas in the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), the ATIGA Upgrade negotiations, and the ongoing ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement (ACAFTA) negotiations.

In strengthening ASEAN’s capacity in those areas, he develops, implements, and monitors trade-related projects and programmes that also support the establishment of a single market and production base, particularly in the liberalisation and facilitation of trade in goods.

Before being a staff member of the ASEAN Secretariat, he serviced the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Viet Nam in more than 14 years. He negotiated a number of FTAs, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) (now renamed as CP-TPP), Viet Nam – Israel, Viet Nam – EFTA, ASEAN-Japan, ASEAN-Korea, ASEAN- Australia – New Zealand, ASEAN – Korea, and ASEAN – China FTA. Under such negotiations, he covered a number of areas, such as trade in goods, trade in services, investment, rules of origin, and customs procedures and trade facilitation. He is also a WTO expert in Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, and Agriculture.

Joyce Lim is the Deputy Director of the Digital Economy team at Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry. In that capacity, she oversees Singapore’s efforts to establish Digital Economy Agreements with partner countries, as well as the ongoing negotiations on the Joint Statement Initiative on E-Commerce at the WTO. Joyce has also been closely involved in the implementation of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA).

Poul Hansen is responsible for issues relating to Trade Facilitation at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Division on Technology and Logistics (DTL). UNCTAD’s mandate is to assist developing and least developed countries as well as economies in transition integrating into global trade, promoting development- centered globalization and inclusive and sustainable growth and development for these countries.

Poul has extensive experience in the area of trade and transport facilitation, having worked for almost 20 years in the UN system on issues such as international trade, transportation, development, international standards, previously working at the UNECE as Secretary for the TIR and Harmonization Conventions. In addition, during his UN career Poul has also worked in the field of international sports policy as Head of the UN Office on Sport and Development and Peace.

Prior to joining the UN, Poul worked for more than 10 years in the private sector in areas such public affairs, management consulting and logistics with organizations including Ernst & Young, FreightForward Europe (FFE), the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the Ziegler Group, gaining experience in a number of industries including transportation and logistics, automotive, manufacturing and retail.

Soo Hyun Kim is Economic Affairs Officer, Trade Policy and Facilitation Section, Trade, Investment and Innovation Division, United Nations ESCAP. She is currently managing capacity building projects on cross- border paperless trade and trade facilitation in the age of pandemics; and supporting the implementation of the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific. Previously she worked in the Investment and Enterprise Development Section with research focus on foreign direct investment (FDI) and investment regimes and their impact on sustainable development. She also worked to promote public-private sector dialogue by organizing the Asia-Pacific Business Forum (APBF) and supporting the ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (ESBN). Prior to this, she worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York; local government (United Kingdom); and higher education institution (United Kingdom). She holds master’s degrees in business administration (specialisation in financial management) from TiasNimbas Business School (Netherlands) and library and information science from Loughborough University (United Kingdom). Email: kim51@un.org

Ainura Usenbekova - Deputy Minister of Economy and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Ms. Aunura Usenbekova has reserved as a Deputy Minister of Economy and Commerce of the Kyrgyz Republic since March 2022.

Previously, she works as a Deputy Head of the Department of Strategic Development and Planning of the Presidential Administration of the Kyrgyz Republic from May 2021 until March 2022. Also Head of the Development Monitoring Sector of the Department of Strategic Development Policy, Economics and Finance of the Office of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic from September 2019 until May 2021 and Project Coordinator at UNDP in Kyrgyz Republic “Strengthening capacities for sustainable development finance in the CIS region” (2018–2019). She has also held a number of senior positions in the Ministry of Economics of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Ms. Usenbekova holds a bachelor’s in Management in tourism and master’s degree “Public administration” from the Academy of public administration at the President of the Kyrgyz Republic (2011–2013).

Sanchita Basu-Das is an economist at the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division of the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department of ADB. She contributes to the division’s flagship publication, namely the Asian Economic Integration Report, and other knowledge products. She also supports the ASEAN regional forum. Her core research interests include regional cooperation and initiatives related to them, such as trade, logistics, industrial corridors, tourism, digital economy, institutions, and others. Sanchita joined ADB in November 2018 and served as an economist in the South Asia Regional Department, processing loans/grants, implementing technical assistance projects and leading operationally relevant analytical studies.

Prior to joining ADB, Sanchita was the lead researcher for economic affairs at the ASEAN Studies Centre of ISEASYusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. She was concurrently a fellow of the Regional Economic Studies Program, coordinator of Singapore APEC Studies Centre and a co-editor of Journal of Southeast Asian Economies (JSEAE), all housed under the same institute. Sanchita has published in international journals including the Singapore Economic Review, Journal of World Trade and Asia Pacific Economic Literature, authored/edited books and book chapters, and wrote for media. Sanchita earned her PhD in international political economy from Nanyang Technology University, Singapore, and her masters in economics and business management from the University of Delhi and the National University of Singapore, respectively.

Kijin Kim is an economist in the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, Asian Development Bank. Since he joined the ADB in 2017, he has been working on trade, trade facilitation, and trade finance within the context of regional cooperation and integration (RCI). He contributed to ADB’s publications on these areas including the Asian Economic Integration Report, Trade Finance Gaps, Growth, and Jobs Survey, and Trade Facilitation and Better Connectivity for an Inclusive Asia and Pacific.

Before joining ADB, he was a research fellow of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois since 2012. From 2004 to 2010, he worked as economist at the Bank of Korea. He earned his PhD in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2016, focusing on research within the fields of regional economics and applied econometrics, centered on the role of labor markets, the effects of heterogeneity in consumption spending, and labor market participation on regional economies.

Ian Sayers, Senior Adviser for Access to financing and investment at the International Trade Centre in Geneva.

Ian leads ITCs advisory access to financing and investment work for 1,000s of developing country MSMEs – specifically to close the demand-supply gap in trade-related financing. This work upgrades financial management skills and develops affordable and predictable financing and investment to accelerate sustainable trade and inclusive business growth. Ian has also pioneered strategic enterprise and resilient value chain development and innovative financing approaches in collaborations with other agencies and regulatory bodies.

ITC, in partnership with development financing institutions, bank and non-bank financing providers, is rolling-.out new credit de-risking approaches and tools to match the needs of MSME borrowing. Through its country field project presence, ITC organises mapping, profiling and loan pre-qualification of MSMEs tailored to financing providers requirements. At the same time ITC briefs lenders on market dynamics, digitisation and enterprise behaviour so that risk/pricing procedures are appropriate for business segments.

Digitisation is playing a key role in improving the quality continuity and efficiency of business data gathering, performance monitoring and reporting to render the new financing approaches to be commercially viable and industry compliant. ITC is currently developing and testing several cloud/block chain applications for suitability with its beneficiary groups. Ian can be contacted at: The International Trade Centre, Geneva E: sayers@intracen.org

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.

Since November 10, 2018, H.E. Mr. Sok Sopheak has been nominated by the Royal Government of Cambodia as a Secretary of State of the Ministry of Commerce, following his two-year assignment as an Under Secretary of State since early 2016. His main role is in charge of the General Directorate for Trade Support Services and the General Directorate for International Trade and Reform Policy.

H.E. Mr. SOK Sopheak holds diploma in Electricity Development from Technology Institute of Cambodia in early 1986, a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Faculty of Business in Cambodia in 1992 and master’s degree in Economics and Finance from the School of Orientation for African Study of the University of London, UK in 1997. He also earned another master’s degree in Public Policy from Saitama University, Japan in 2000.

He served for the Provincial Government of Cambodia as Director of Electricity Power Plant Authority of Koh Kong Province since 1988 and moved to work in the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) in 1992. He was promoted as Director of ASEAN and International Organizations Department in 1999 and since then he has played a key role as trade negotiator for Cambodia’s economic integration to ASEAN, ASEAN Plus One FTA and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

He was promoted as Director General of International Trade, MoC in 2007 and moved to work as a Director General of the General Directorate for Trade Support Services under MoC in 2014, promoting the implementation of trade reform agenda and trade facilitation, including but not limited to, development of online business registration, application of online certification of origin, and online trademarks applications, and amendment of some laws and regulations etc.

Currently, he assumes a role as the Trade Negotiation Committee (TNC) lead in trade negotiations under Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between ASEAN and six foreign participating countries and Chief negotiator for bilateral Free Trade Agreements and trade cooperation between Cambodia and its major trading partners. Moreover, he has been the lead of drafting teams of Law on Trade Remedy and Law on E-commerce which have come into force in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He has also been the lead of three drafting teams for draft law on commercial agent, amendment of law on Commercial Enterprise and amendment of law on Commercial Rules and Enterprise.

Ratnakar Adhikari has been serving the Executive Secretariat for the EIF at the WTO as its Executive Director since October 2013. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Director of South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment, a Kathmandu-based regional think-tank. Previously he served, among others, as a Senior Adviser to the National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal, and as Trade Programme Specialist for UNDP, Asia Pacific Regional Centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dr Adhikari has conducted extensive research as well as published in the areas of international trade, aid for trade, competition policy and trade facilitation, particularly from the perspective of the Least Developed Countries. He obtained his PhD from the University of Warwick, UK; his Masters of International Law and Economics from the World Trade Institute, Switzerland; and his Masters of Commerce from the University of Delhi, India.

Yann Duval is currently Chief of Trade Policy and Facilitation Section at UN-ESCAP, the regional branch of the United Nations Secretariat for Asia and the Pacific. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Duval has conducted research and delivered technical assistance and advisory services on trade policy and facilitation throughout Asia and the Pacific, including on the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. He spearheaded the development of the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), as well as, interalia, the creation of the ESCAP-World Bank Trade Cost Database, the UN Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation and the online Trade Intelligence and Negotiation Adviser (TINA). Dr. Duval was also instrumental in the development of the United Nations Network of Experts for Paperless Trade and Transport in Asia and the Pacific (UNNExT) and the negotiation of a new intergovernmental Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific, a UN treaty entered into force in February 2021.

Prior to joining the UN, he held faculty positions at the Asian Institute of Technology and Washington State University, USA.