Our Trade Experts

COUNSELLOR, WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION
Sergio Balibrea has joined the cabinet of the World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry. A Spanish lawyer and former official of the European Union, Balibrea has more than 17 years of experience in international trade and IP diplomacy. He was previously First Counsellor at the EU Delegation to the WTO and UN in Geneva, in charge of Intellectual property, Trade defence and Competition. He also served as EU's spokesperson in Geneva. EU Delegations are the diplomatic offices of the European Union and represent the trade interests of its 27 Member States around the world. Mr. Balibrea has held several posts including Head of "Trade and Economics" at the EU Delegation in Beijing, where he handled EU-China trade relations during a key period in China's rise (2002-06). Before that, Mr. Balibrea served in Brussels as EU Services negotiator on WTO matters and led on China’s accession to the WTO. He is a guest lecturer at various universities including Thunderbird School of Global Management, and is a member of the Spanish law bar. Mr Balibrea holds a LLM in International and EU law from Louvain in Belgium and a Law degree from Barcelona in Spain.

ECONOMIC RESEARCH DIVISION, WTO

Cosimo Beverelli has worked at the Economic Research Division of the WTO since April 2009. He is also lecturer in the Economics Department of the University of Geneva. Before joining the WTO, he worked at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, and at UNCTAD. He holds a PhD in International Economics from the Graduate Institute, Geneva, where he wrote a thesis on "The Consequences of Offshore Outsourcing". He has published two co-authored book articles, and two of his most recent research papers are forthcoming in the Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade and on International Economics and Economic Policy.Cosimo Beverelli has worked at the Economic Research Division of the WTO since April 2009. He is also lecturer in the Economics Department of the University of Geneva. Before joining the WTO, he worked at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, and at UNCTAD. He holds a PhD in International Economics from the Graduate Institute, Geneva, where he wrote a thesis on "The Consequences of Offshore Outsourcing". He has published two co-authored book articles, and two of his most recent research papers are forthcoming in the Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade and on International Economics and Economic Policy.

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Mark Halle was born in the United States but grew up in Switzerland. His career began in the field of international negotiations, serving in the diplomatic secretariat of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. In that capacity, he was involved in the negotiation of the Barcelona Convention on the Mediterranean Environment, one of the first regional environmental conventions ever adopted.
He then spent five years with UNEP, starting in the Policy Planning Unit and ending up working on the global State of the Environment report published ten years after UNEP’s establishment. From UNEP, he worked with WWF and IUCN in writing the World Conservation Strategy, a document which fundamentally changed the way in which conservation of nature was approached, namely by abandoning the earlier notion that conservation and development were necessarily in opposition to one another and embracing the notion that they are essential components of sustainable development.
Halle then moved to WWF International, serving for three years as conservation assistant to HRH The Prince Phillip (the president of WWF) and helping to establish and direct the WWF program in China.
He moved to IUCN in 1984 to establish the Conservation for Development Centre, IUCN’s first move to involvement with the developing countries. For seven years, he worked in, and directed, this Centre, establishing the foundation for what is now an extensive worldwide IUCN presence. Halle then spent a further three years setting up IUCN’s fundraising system, and a final four years establishing its Global Policy and Partnerships program.
Since his departure from IUCN, he has worked for the International Institute for Sustainable Development, both as its European Representative and as its Global Director for Trade and Investment. In this capacity he supervises a team of twenty-five professionals based in Europe and around the world.
Halle lectures, writes and publishes frequently on issues relating to sustainable development and to multilateral trade policy. He is founder and former Chairman of the Board of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.

LEGAL AFFAIRS DIVISION, WTO

Jorge Castro-Bernieri is a Counsellor in the Legal Affairs Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva since 2003. Mr. Castro was formerly the Legal Counsel of the Andean Community General Secretariat in Lima, Perú (2001-2003). He was a Member of the Permanent Group of Experts, created by the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and served as a WTO panelist. He has taught at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (in Perú), the Universidad Central de Venezuela (in Venezuela) and at the Colegio Mayor Nuestra Señora del Rosario (in Colombia), among other Universities. He also served as Legal Counsel for the Venezuelan Antidumping Commission, advised the Venezuelan Government and the Andean Community in international trade negotiations and practiced law privately. Mr. Castro graduated from the law school at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. He attended the University of Michigan Law School and obtained a Masters Degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He has several publications on legal aspects of international trade, especially on antidumping regulations, subsidies rules, and regional trade agreements.
Simon J. Evenett is Professor of International Trade and Economic Development at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Co-Director of the CEPR Programme in International Trade and Regional Economics. Evenett taught previously at Oxford and Rutgers University, and served twice as a World Bank official. He was a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution in Washington. In addition he served as a Member of the High Level Group on Globalisation established by the French Trade Minister Christine LaGarde, Member of the Warwick Commission on the Future of the Multilateral Trading System After Doha, and was Member of the the Zedillo Committee on the Global Trade and Financial Architecture. In addition to his research into the determinants of international commercial flows, he is particularly interested in the relationships between international trade policy, national competition law and policy, and economic development. He obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.

AGRICULTURE DIVISION, WTO

Lee Ann Jackson has been a Research Fellow at the Centre for International Economic Studies at the University of Adelaide and a part-time Lecturer for the School of Economics. Her research looked at issues related to international trade and agricultural biotechnology, with an emphasis on non-tariff trade barrier impacts of national regulations associated with biotechnology products. Previously, she spent several years working for the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota, a joint Masters degree in Environmental Studies and Public and Private Management from Yale University and a B.A. in Biology from Princeton University. In February 2004 she moved to a position in the Agriculture Division of the WTO Secretariat in Geneva.

COUNSELLOR, WTO

Cédric Pene is currently Counsellor at the World Trade Organization. He was previously Policy Officer in the FAO/UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) Timber section in Geneva since October 2009, where he is dealing mainly with cross sectoral issues of interest for the Forestry sector. He was before Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of France to the World Trade Organization (Geneva) from 2001 to 2008, where he was in charge of Agriculture, Environment, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Regional Trade agreements, including the follow up of Doha Development Agenda negotiations and disputes in these areas. Previously, Cédric Pene worked for the French Ministry of Agriculture, where he participated in the negotiation and implementation of the European Common Agricultural Policy reform of 1999. He also worked for the French Ministry of Economy and Finance within the Agricultural unit of the Department for Trade. Cédric Pene holds Engineering degrees from Ecole Centrale de Paris and Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural des Eaux et des Forêts (Paris, France) as well as a MA in Micro-Economics.

COUNSELLOR - MARKET ACCESS DIVISION, WTO
Roy Santana is counsellor at the Market Access Division of the WTO. He is an expert on issues relating to tariffs and non-tariff measures, the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), and the negotiations on Non-Agricultural Products (NAMA). He has provided assistance to panellists in disputes arising under the Dispute Settlement Understanding of the WTO. He has lectured in numerous occasions in Asia, Europe, the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prior to working in the WTO, from 2001 to 2004, he served as a Geneva representative for the Government of Costa Rica in diverse areas of the Doha Development Agenda, including on Agriculture, NAMA, and Trade & Environment.  During this time, in 2003, he was elected vice-chairman of the International Textiles and Clothing Bureau (ITCB) and served as an alternate member of the Textiles Monitoring Body of the WTO.
From 1998 to 2000 he worked as a trade negotiator for the Government of Costa Rica on issues relating to Market Access, Agriculture and Trade & Competition Policy in the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA).  He also participated in several bilateral trade negotiations with other Central American countries, as well as with Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Panama.
Mr. Santana has an LL.M. in Trade Regulation from New York University (NYU), as well as a lawyer's and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Costa Rica.

Jon Worth is a freelance training consultant based in Brussels and London. He has previously worked full time as a trainer at the National School of Government in London and now works for a variety of training clients in London, Brussels and Berlin. For the last 3 years he has run all the introductory courses in EU affairs at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London and has run introductory training courses in EU affairs for many UK government departments, and private and NGO sector clients. Jon Worth has a background in the public sector in both Brussels and London having worked in the European Parliament and as a civil servant in Whitehall. He follows EU business closely and is the author of one of the best known blogs about EU affairs – www.jonworth.eu

COUNSELLOR, WTO
Mr. Erik Wijkström is a Counsellor in the WTO Division on Trade and Environment. Since joining the WTO in 1995, he has worked in several areas of trade policy, including agriculture, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS Agreement), health and trade, and trade and environmental policy. He has a Masters Degree in the areas of agriculture and economics from Uppsala, Sweden. He is currently the Secretary of the WTO Committee onTechnical Barriers to Trade (WTO TBT Committee).

DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL, WTO
Rufus H. Yerxa has served as Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2002. Mr. Yerxa has an extensive record as a trade diplomat, legislative expert and private lawyer. He has served as a senior trade official in both Republican and Democratic Administrations. From 1989 to 1993 he was the U.S. Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Geneva, the predecessor organization to the WTO. From 1993 to 1995 he was the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative in Washington — his government's senior sub-cabinet trade official. In these two positions, he played a major role in negotiating and securing Congressional approval of both the Uruguay Round/WTO agreement and the NAFTA accord. Prior to these appointments, he was legal counsel to the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives (1981-89), where he served as Staff Director of the Trade Subcommittee. He guided the drafting and enactment of several major pieces of trade legislation. He began his government career as a legal advisor with the U.S. International Trade Commission (1977-81), an independent government agency responsible for various trade matters. He left U.S. government service in 1995, and moved to Brussels as resident partner with a major U.S. law firm. His law practice focused on international trade matters and European regulatory affairs. He subsequently served as European General Counsel for a major pharmaceuticals and agro-food company. Mr. Yerxa received his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington, his law degree from the University of Puget Sound and an advanced degree in international law from Cambridge University. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Washington State bars.