Key speakers
Speakers (A-Z)
Mr. Bismark Rosales Rojas is the General Manager of Port Jennefer located on the Paraguay-Paranà waterway of Bolivia.
He holds a Master’s in Port Management Planning and Intermodality from the Puertos del Estado-Universidad of Càdiz Spain. In 2020 Mr. Rojas was awarded an honorary doctorate in human rights from the UN Global Compact for his work with “Port Development on the Bolivia-Brazil Border.” Mr. Rojas carries with him maritime experience thanks to his time with the Bolivian Navy where he was recognized with silver and gold emblems (2014-2017).
Mr. Bismark Rosales has been a longstanding supporter of the UNCTAD/TrainForTrade Port Management Programme where he first began as a participant at the Training of Trainers workshops in Gijon and Valencia, Spain in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Today, he also provides instructor support to TrainForTrade’s Port Management Programme Spanish-speaking network assisting in teaching participants from Argentina, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Peru.
Rodrigo Rupérez is a consultant for UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on supply chain and voluntary sustainability standards (VSS).
He has worked for APEC, CARICOM and Comunidad Andina (CAM) developing and implementing sustainable development projects in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and the Caribbean region. Awarded in 2021 by the Social Impact Accelerator (SIA), the first pan-European public-private partnership led by the European Investment Bank Group.
Committed to sustainability, his expertise and interests include sustainable value chain, trade, social development and renewable energies. Rodrigo holds an MBA from IESE Business School, research-proficient studies in Science History from the University of Valladolid and a degree in Business and Economics from the University of Navarra.
Miryam Saade Hazin is a Mexican economist with more than 26 years of experience in macroeconomics, public policy, sustainable development, monetary policy, econometrics, natural resources governance, infrastructure, transportation, and logistics.
She worked for nearly 16 years at the Central Bank of Mexico, two years at Simbiosis Económica and has worked in different divisions at ECLAC: Economic Development, Natural Resources, Sustainable Development and Human Settlements, and currently at the International Trade and Integration Division (ITID).
Miryam has several publications and has provided technical assistance to several countries in Latin America. She holds a master’s degree in economics with specialization in international economics, public policy and advanced econometrics from the University of Warwick, England.
Since September 2022 she has served as Officer in charge of the Infrastructure and Logistics Unit at ECLAC.
Roble Sabrie is an Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with over fifteen years of experience related to agriculture economics and rural development including assignments focused on value chain development, agribusiness development, market linkages, food systems analysis, regional trade, and rural poverty reduction in Latin America, Caribbean, Africa and Eastern Europe. He has contributed to numerous publications and supported projects on these critical topics.
Recent analysis work include: Study for the establishment of a maritime service to improve agrifood trade and food security between Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and Barbados; Identification of a pipeline of potential agrifood borrowers in the Caribbean (for the AGRiFi EU financed impact fund); Priority areas for irrigation investments in Belize; Study on the State of Agriculture in the Caribbean.
Roble holds an MA in development economics from the University of Sussex (UK) and a BSc in economics from Roma Tre University (Italy).
Juan Salamanca is a visionary supply chain leader with over 9 years of experience in multicultural environments, specializing in generating customer-oriented results through the strategic use of technology and information systems.
His transformative approach to supply chain management, coupled with a humanitarian focus and expertise in implementing large-scale ERP systems, has significantly impacted organizational capabilities across 13 countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region in organizations such as ICRC.
Currently, Juan is completing his master's studies in Supply Chain Management at the University of the Andes in Colombia. Juan currently works for Plan International, a humanitarian and international development organization advocating for children's rights and girls' equality.
Rico is a Transport Specialist in the World Bank’s Global Transport Unit, working on the Bank’s engagement in shipping and ports, freight logistics and the transport sector’s energy transition.
Prior to joining the bank, he worked in the shipping industry, in offshore energy and in the ship finance industry for several years.
At Credit Suisse, he led the technical implementation of the Poseidon Principles, a framework for climate-aligned ship lending. Rico holds a first degree in Nautical Science and an MSc in Maritime Policy from Cardiff University.
He is a qualified merchant navy officer.
Ricardo J Sanchez is Head of the Caribbean Research Institute and co-chair to the Kühne Professorial Chair in Logistics at the School of Management, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia.
Until 2022, he was Senior Economic Affairs Officer at United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Division of Trade, Integration and Infrastructure.
He has a PhD in Economics, and an internationally recognised expert in shipping and port economics, as well as in transport and infrastructure, with special focus on the region of Latin America and the Caribbean.
He has worked either professionally or academically in 30 out of the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean along 30 years, as well as in Europe and Asia.
Since she joined UNCTAD in 2012, Arantzazu Sanchez has significantly contributed to enhancing National Trade Facilitation Committees (NTFCs).
Passionate about innovation and driving change, she had had leading roles in key initiatives like the Empowerment Programme for NTFCs, the UNCTAD Reform Tracker, the UNCTAD Database for NTFCs, and the Trade Facilitation e-Learning Platform, having also a major hand in crafting its curriculum.
Her academic credentials include studies in Political Sciences across Spain and Germany, topped with a Postgraduate Master from the College of Europe in Belgium. A Spanish national, she fluently speaks English, French, German, and Portuguese.
Her prolific output includes a vast array of publications on NTFCs.
Natalie Sandiford is an Attorney-at-Law, with over eighteen years of experience in the legal field, with a specialized focus on maritime law. Her work in the maritime field has propelled her to President of the Women in Maritime Association Caribbean Barbados Chapter Inc., a national chapter of Women in Maritime Association, Caribbean.
Natalie is a passionate advocate for women's empowerment and bridging the gender gap in the maritime industry. Natalie is also the founder of Altus Chambers and Managing Director of Altus Regional Corporate Solutions where her expertise extends to providing professional legal advice on maritime law and policy and consultant services.
Over the course of her career, Natalie has worked with various private and public institutions in the maritime sector to provide legal advice on compliance with international laws, mitigate risks associated with cross-border trade, and devise legal and strategic solutions to complex challenges throughout the global supply chain.
Nikola is an explorer, innovator, communicator, connector, and changemaker. As an experienced ocean and climate professional with a deep passion for regenerative development in the Caribbean & beyond, Nikola is committed to empowering and amplifying voices of individuals including women and youth and co - creating community solutions.
By marrying the old with the new while encouraging a culture of an innovation mindset, she is a dreamer but also a doer, thriving at the edge of the unknown, ready to explore and anticipate alternative futures through data supported emerging signals, trends and foresight driven by curiosity and an open mind.
With over 10 years of putting her expertise into practice, she continues to learn, pivot and adapt within the blue economy space. From fisheries to waste management to sustainable tourism to renewable energy to conservation finance, Nikola is truly an interdisciplinary working to achieve systems change.