La Reunión Plurianual de Expertos sobre Transporte, Logística Comercial y Facilitación del Comercio de UNCTAD es una serie de foros en los que expertos, gobiernos y partes interesadas discuten los retos y las soluciones para mejorar el transporte, la logística y los procedimientos comerciales, con especial atención al apoyo a los países menos adelantados, los pequeños Estados insulares en desarrollo y los países en desarrollo sin litoral.
Estas reuniones generan recomendaciones, comparten buenas prácticas y fortalecen capacidades para hacer que el comercio mundial sea más eficiente y sostenible, aprovechando los pilares de trabajo de UNCTAD: investigación, asistencia técnica y creación de consenso.
El tema de la 12ª sesión será confirmado en el 78º período de sesiones ejecutivas de la Junta de Comercio y Desarrollo, que se celebrará en Ginebra del 4 al 6 de febrero de 2026.
Participantes
Expertos a título personal (nominados por los Estados miembros) y representantes gubernamentales.
Mr. Angel González Sanz is the Officer-in-Charge of the Division and Chief of the Technology, Innovation and Knowledge Development Branch of the Division on Technology and Logistics.
Following some experience in the public and private sectors at the national level, he joined the United Nations secretariat through the National Competitive Examination in 1994.
Since then, he has worked in the area of technology and innovation supporting intergovernmental processes such as the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development, policy analysis including the E-commerce and Development Report series and the Technology and Innovation Report series, and in the delivery of advisory and technical assistance programmes, including UNCTAD's programme of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Reviews.
Regina Asariotis is Chief (a.i.) of the Trade Logistics Branch in the Division on Technology and Logistics of UNCTAD with responsibility for UNCTAD’s related work, including coordination of the UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport 2025. She is also Chief of the Policy and Legislation Section, with responsibility for UNCTAD's work on transport law and policy.
Before joining UNCTAD in 2001, Regina was a Senior Lecturer in Maritime Law at the University of Southampton and a member of the Governing Board of the Institute of Maritime Law, an internationally leading centre for research and teaching in the field.
She holds a German law degree (Bavaria), an English LL.M (Soton) and a German doctorate in Maritime Law (Dr. jur., Hamburg) and is a practising Barrister (England & Wales), an Attorney at Law (Greece), as well as Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb).
Alessandro Nicita is a senior economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, specializing in international trade policy, non-tariff measures, trade resilience, and global supply chains. He has contributed to numerous UN publications, and his research was published in several scholarly journals.His research examines how trade policies and economic shocks affect developing countries and global trade patterns. He is the lead author and creator of UNCTAD’s Global Trade Update, the organization’s flagship report providing real-time analysis of global trade trends and developments. Through his work at UNCTAD, he has helped shape evidence-based trade policy analysis that promotes inclusive and sustainable economic development worldwide. Before joining UNCTAD, he served as an economist in the Development Economics Research Group at the World Bank.
Jan Dieleman is the President of Cargill Ocean Transportation and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. He has spent more than 20 years at Cargill and has successfully managed businesses in the U.S. and Europe.
Jan first joined the company in 1999 as a management trainee in Amsterdam. He spent the next 10 years gaining experience as a trading manager in the freight, grain and energy markets, before being appointed head of Cargill’s coal trading business in 2012.
He went on to lead Cargill’s North America power and gas unit in Houston, Texas, before returning to Geneva in 2016 as president of Cargill Ocean Transportation. At the same time, he was invited to join Cargill’s global corporate.
Across the maritime sector, Jan is a respected advocate for sustainable shipping, actively supporting reduced emissions, better vessel environmental performance, safer working conditions, and a more diverse workforce.
He is chair of the Global Maritime Forum, non-executive board member of Seascale Energy, advisory board member of Lloyds Register and a member of the board of advisors for London International Shipping Week 2025. Jan graduated from the University of Maastricht with a master’s degree in economics, marketing and organization.
Monika Tothova is a Senior Economist in the Markets and Trade Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. She leads a team which provides short term outlook for basic food commodities. She also serves as a Secretary of the Agricultural Market Information System, AMIS, a G20 initiative to enhance food market transparency. A national of Slovakia, she earned her Doctorate in Economics and Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University. Before joining FAO in 2012, she worked in the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, France.
Hidenobu Tokuda, Economist in the Transport Section, Trade Logistics Branch, UNCTAD. He is working on quantitative research and technical assistance programmes in international transport. He accumulates 20 years of experience as an economist at a Japanese think-tank, the Government of Japan, the UN-ECLAC (subregional office for the Caribbean) and the UNCTAD. He has a bachelor degree in economics from the University of Tokyo, Japan and master’s degree in development economics from MIT, US, and passed the National Bar Examination in Japan.
Nelson Mojarro leads the activities related to innovation and strategic partnerships for the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), based in London. He is responsible for innovation analysis and trends, particularly with respect to the green transition in shipping. In addition, he oversees international engagement beyond the International Maritime Organisation.
Nelson began his career as an academic, undertaking research related to energy transitions and large technological complex systems. He focused his research on alternative fuels and how to break a path dependence in fuels.
He has worked both in the public and the private sector, working closely with international organisations, particularly on clean energy innovation, collaborating internationally at the highest-level. He has served as a Vice-Chair of the Committee for Energy Research and Technology at the International Energy Agency.
Frida Youssef is the chief of the Transport Section within the Trade Logistics Branch at UNCTAD.
She has more than twenty-five years of professional experience in areas related to trade, logistics, commodities, finance, and sustainable development, which has given her the opportunity to build, lead and motivate research and technical assistance programmes, geared towards developing countries in a broad range of issues, including commodity supply chains and structured finance, public-private partnerships (PPPs), maritime transport and ports, transit transport and corridors, and cross-cutting issues such as environment, climate change, gender, finance and investment. She is a co-author of the UNCTAD's annual Review of Maritime Transport. Frida holds an MBA from Boston University and an MA in International Affairs from the Hautes Etudes Internationales - Paris.;
She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Network of Export-Import Banks and Development Finance Institutions (G-NEXID). She is also on the Steering Committee of the Port Chapter of the World Association of PPPs Units and Professionals (WAPPP).
Industrial Engineer and MSc in Port Management and Intermodal Transport, Mr. Diez also holds a Diploma in Digital Business and Advanced Studies in Sustainability, Development and International Cooperation.
Currently Chief Innovation Officer in the Port Authority of Valencia, Mr. Diez accumulates more than twenty-five years of experience in the field of ports and maritime transport. He’s been involved in several projects related to innovation and port management, including port efficiency, new technologies implementation, environmental protection, safety and security, risk assessment and energy transition. Mr. Díez has participated as speaker in several national and international Congresses, Seminars and Workshops in Europe and Worldwide. Author of different monographies and articles concerning port management, he is an instructor of the UNCTAD Trainfortrade English and Spanish Networks and a lecturer in various Spanish Universities.
Celine Bacrot is Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Trade Facilitation Section in the Division of Technology and Logistics in UNCTAD. She has over 25 years of work experience with a focus on trade and economic development, regional integration and political economy. From 2003 until 2008, she worked in UNCTAD as focal point of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (IF) for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) on the formulation of trade development strategies.
Afterwards, she spent more than 10 years based in East Africa working for several UN agencies (UN-Habitat and UNICEF) and set up a consultancy firm in Arusha, Tanzania, working on trade projects, mainly regional integration, trade development strategies, and trade facilitation in the EAC region and Asia-Pacific. From 2014 until 2020, she was the regional coordinator for the UNCTAD Trade Facilitation project in East Africa.
She is now based in Geneva and works as senior trade advisor in UNCTAD HQ on trade facilitation, trade logistics and regional integration issues at global level. She has a Master in Economics with a specialization in Economic Development as well as a Degree in Political Science, Development and Co-operation from the University of Paris-La Sorbonne.
- More than 30 years’ experience in Customs, trade and border management.
- Globally recognized expert on strategy development, trade facilitation, Trade Compliance AEO/MRA, Risk Management, Digital Trade, Trade Single Window and Trade Portals.
- Led and managed extensive transformation and strategic projects globally – specifically on Single Window and Digital Trade Corridor concepts.
- Outstanding capability to understand business strategies and translate them into IT strategies and Solutions.
Mariam Soumaré, is the Knowledge and Community Lead at the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation based at the World Economic Forum. Prior to this, she worked as a Trade Policy Analyst in the Accessions Division of the World Trade Organization for six years and as a trade consultant for the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the World Bank. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a Master’s Degree in International Trade Policy from the International University in Geneva as well as an Executive Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Beatriz Vacotto is the Head of the Maritime Unit in the International Labour Standards Department of the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland and bears responsibility for issues related to the supervision and implementation of maritime and fishing conventions. She has played a key role in promoting the Maritime Labour Convention worldwide, supporting the process of amendment of its provisions and enhancing cooperation with maritime social partners and relevant UN agencies, in particular on issues related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on seafarers, abandonment, fair treatment and violence on board. Among others, she has lectured at the World Maritime University, the International Maritime Law Institute and the International Foundation of the Law of the Sea and served as an expert on seafarers’ rights in discussions at the margin of the UN Human Rights Council. Her former experience includes working for the ILO Training Centre in Turin and the Judiciary in Argentina. Ms Vacotto graduated as a lawyer in Cordoba, Argentina and later obtained a Masters in International Relationships in the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Pierre is a Business Development Manager at DNV, responsible for business development activities in the country.
He brings 20 years of international experience at DNV as a Business Development Manager, Key Account Manager, and Market Analyst, having worked in Norway, China, France, and Switzerland.
At DNV, Pierre specializes in the maritime sector, working with cargo owners, charterers, and key stakeholders across the shipping value chain. His work focuses on regulatory developments, market dynamics, and the implementation of practical solutions supporting operational and strategic decision-making.
Yanying Li is a legal officer at the International Trade Law Division (ITLD), Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations, which serves as the secretariat to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Since 2019, Yanying has been involved in the exploratory and preparatory work for the development of a legal instrument on negotiable cargo documents, a project assigned to UNCITRAL Working Group VI in 2022.
Finalized by UNCITRAL in July 2025 and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2025, the United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents is a landmark treaty that extends the long-established benefits of maritime bills of lading to all modes of transport. For the first time in history, goods carried by road, rail, air or sea could be represented by a single negotiable document—on paper or in electronic form.
Yanying serves as the Secretary of UNCITRAL Working Group VI (Negotiable Cargo Documents). She is also responsible for the organization of the annual sessions of UNCITRAL as well as UNCITRAL matters related to the UN General Assembly.
Before joining the ITLD, she worked in the field of banking and international arbitration at the Asian Development Bank (Manila), Clifford Chance LLP (London) and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (the Hague).
