Speakers

Dr. Carsten Hansen is the Director of SourcingHaus Research and Consulting Group dedicated to supporting organizations in developing and implementing sustainable procurement and supply chain strategies. He is further Director for the Sustainable Public Procurement Accelerator Lab (SPP Lab) at the George Weston Centre for Sustainable Supply Chains, Schulich School of Business, collaborating with researchers, government, and industry leaders to deliver against the UN SDG Goal 12.7.  

He is also a Visiting Research Fellow, at the School of Management, Centre for Strategic Procurement and Supply Management at Cranfield University (UK), where he has published on sustainable procurement and supply chain risk management. 

He has served 20+ years in senior management positions with the United Nations (UN), latest as the Chief of Global Procurement Services at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and as Co-Chair of the Inter-Agency Working Group on Sustainable Procurement for the United Nations High-level Committee on Management (HLCM)

Poul Hansen is responsible for the Trade Facilitation portfolio at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Poul has extensive experience in the area of trade and transport facilitation, having worked for more than 20 years in the UN system on issues such as international trade, transportation, transit, development, international standards, previously working at the UNECE as Secretary for the TIR and International Harmonization Conventions etc.

Prior to joining the UN, Poul worked for more than 10 years in the private sector in public affairs, management consulting and logistics, including with Ernst & Young. Poul has studied both master and bachelor levels in Business Administration and International Law from the Aarhus University and Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

Poul is a certified freight forwarding agent.

Khalid is a member of Trade Facilitation Committee in Abu Dhabi, responsible for leading strategic initiatives and programs in Abu Dhabi Customs related to digitization, security, revenue Management and Trade Facilitation, including innovative solutions, Process Excellence, and Customs foresight.

He has an MBA in Project Management from Abu Dhabi University and BSc in Management from Higher Colleges of Technology, Certified Six Sigma and Abu Dhabi Government Future Leaders Program.

Mark Henderson is a project manager and trade negotiator with 15 years' experience working with and for WTO, European Commission and the Chinese government. Since August 2018 he has worked to support developing and LDC Members with Trade Facilitation Agreement implementation at the WTO Secretariat.

During his tenure at the European Commission's Directorate General for Trade, Mark led negotiations that integrated the Paris Agreement into the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement, pioneering climate change considerations in major trade deals. He also contributed to shaping the EU's trade strategy within UN Sustainable Development Goal negotiations and supported the EU's chief negotiator during UNCTAD XIV in Nairobi.

Mark has managed teams delivering global projects, conducting numerous training sessions, seminars, and conferences across three continents. His work convened international stakeholders from business, politics, and the judiciary to discuss critical topics such as trade facilitation, environmental sustainability, regulatory reform, and competition policy within WTO Membership.

Sebastian Herreros is an Economic Affairs Officer at the International Trade and Integration Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

He has coordinated the UN Global Trade Facilitation Survey in that region since its first edition in 2015.

Prior to joining ECLAC in 2009, he worked on trade policy issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile, including a stint as Counselor before the World Trade Organization in Geneva between 2002 and 2007.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and a Master of Science in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Roel Hoenders is Head of Climate Action and Clean Air in the IMO Secretariat and oversees IMO's regulatory work on decarbonizing international maritime transport.

Roel holds a law degree with specializations in international environmental and maritime law. Before joining IMO, Roel held various positions in the European Commission, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and in the port and logistics sector.

Before joining the IMO Secretariat, he worked as legal and policy officer on defining EU renewable energy and clean air policies in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Environment and on promoting sustainable shipping in the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

In earlier functions, Roel managed sustainable transport infrastructure projects in the MENA region at the European Commission's Development Cooperation Directorate and advised on ESG and government relations at the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) and DHL Netherlands.

Jan joined UNCTAD in 2003 and is Chief of the organization’s Trade Logistics Branch since 2016. The Branch implements research and technical assistance programmes in international transport and trade facilitation.

Previously, Jan worked six years for the UN ECLAC in Santiago de Chile, and two years for the IMO in London and Santiago.

Prior to this, he held part time positions as assistant professor, import-export agent, and seafarer. Jan has studied in Germany, UK, and Spain, and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Hamburg.

Onno Hoffmeister joined the UN Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) Statistics Service in 2015.

He previously worked as statistician at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation (FAO) and Eurostat and as researcher at the University of Hamburg and the German Institute for Economic Research. He was engaged as consultant for the GIZ and the German Federal Ministry of Economics in capacity building ("twinning") projects of the European Commission. 

In 2024, he led UNCTAD's comprehensive assessment of the impact of mid-term IMO GHG reduction measures on States and in 2023 the development of the UNCTAD - World Bank Trade-and-Transport Dataset. He coordinated the statistical work behind many of UNCTADs online datasets including on ocean trade and maritime transport.

He holds a PhD in Economics from the European University Viadrina and has 25 years of experience in statistics, economic analysis and capacity building. He published in the Journal of Shipping and Trade, the Statistical Journal of the IAOS, Agricultural Economics, the Review of Income and Wealth and other peer-reviewed journals. He is member of the UN Committee of Experts on Business and Trade Statistics, the International Association for Official Statistics, and the German Association for Social Policy.

Owen Holder is currently the Barbados Comptroller of Customs.

He has worked a Programme Officer with UNCTAD where he was stationed in Jamaica with responsibilities for managing activities related to ASYCUDA World, the Electronic Single Window and the Port Community System. He lead a team to implement ASYCUDA World in St. Helena and was Project Manager for the implementation of ASYCUDA World in Barbados.

He received a Master degree in Business Administration form the University of Surrey and a double Master degree from the University of Canberra in International Customs Law and Administration and Master in International Revenue Administration.

Mr. Holder was a certified lecture at University of Canberra where he completed CCLEC/University of Canberra lectures for the Diploma in Customs Management Studies through the region.

Mr. Ren Hongbin, Secretary of the CPC Leadership Group and Chairman at the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT).

He worked successively as Commercial Counselor (deputy director-general level) in China's Embassy in Hungary, Party Secretary and Vice President of Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, MOFCOM (director-general level), Director-General of the Department of WTO Affairs and Director-General of China WTO Notification and Inquiry Center, Director-General of the Department of Foreign Trade and Deputy Director-General of National Mechanic and Electronic Import and Export Office, MOFCOM, Assistant Minister of Commerce and Vice Minister of Commerce.