Mercedes Araoz is a Professor of International Economics and Public Policy at Universidad del Pacifico, Lima, Peru. Currently, member of the Executive Board of the Global Crop Trust, and Commissioner of the Broad Band Commission for Sustainable Development (ITU-UNESCO). Also, she is cochairing the Academic Advisory Council Committee of United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS).
She has been Vice-President and member of the Parliament and Prime Minister of Peru. Another previous government positions she had held in her home country are Minister of Finance, Minister of Production and Minister of Trade and Tourism, Executive Director of the Competitiveness Council and Member of the Antidumping and Countervailing Duties Committee at INDECOPI. She has been Representative of the Interamerican Development Bank in Mexico.
She is an economist graduated from Universidad del Pacifico and has a master’s degree and doctoral studies from University of Miami, she has a long career in the Academia as professor and researcher in areas like international trade policy and negotiations and development and competitiveness public policy. She has received two “Doctor Honoris Causa” degrees, one by Universidad Femenina del Sagrado Corazón in Lima and the other one by Universidad Nacional San Agustin in Arequipa, Peru.
Mr. Rivetla Edipo Araujo Cruz serves as the Vice-Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Brazil. An Agricultural Technician from the Institute for the Sustainable Agricultural and Forestry Development of the State of Amazonas (IDAM), he holds a bachelor's degree in Fisheries Engineering (2013) and a master's degree in Aquaculture and Tropical Aquatic Resources (2016), both from the Federal Rural University of Amazonia (UFRA).
He also earned a doctorate in Aquatic Ecology and Fisheries from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) in 2020, which included a research period at the University of Florida. From 2019 to 2022, he held several leadership positions at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply, including Coordinator, General Coordinator, and Director.
From 2022 to 2024, he served as a Director at the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Mr. Sergio René Araujo-Enciso is an Economist at the Medium-Term Outlook and Market Analysis Team at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Mr. Araujo-Enciso contributes with market and policy analyses to various pieces of work and publications, including the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook. In addition, he also has sound experience in economic modelling. Before joining FAO, Mr. Araujo-Enciso was a research fellow at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (EU-JRC) based in Seville Spain, and a research assistant at the George August Gottingen University in Germany, where he gained his PhD degree.
Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir has been the Director of OECD Development Centre since 16 August 2021.
Ms. Árnadóttir served as Minister of Industry and Commerce in Iceland from 2013-2017 and was an elected Member of Parliament for the Independence Party from 2007-2016.
Before being elected to Parliament, she was successively a political advisor to the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister. She also worked for the Trade Council of Iceland both in New York and in Reykjavík.
A nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Centre, she was also a Board member of RÚV (Icelandic National Broadcasting Company) and of the American-Icelandic Chamber of Commerce. She was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Duty Free Iceland, and a member of the Board of Directors of Landsvirkjun (national power company).
Ms. Árnadóttir has a Master’s Degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Sciences from the University of Iceland.
Ludovic Arnaud is an Associate Economic Affairs Officer in the Trade, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Branch of UNCTAD, focusing on ocean economic data and analysis. He previously worked on supporting UNCTAD in its development of databases on trade in ocean goods and services and trade in biodiversity-based products, as well as on the organisation of the informal Working Group on trade and biodiversity statistics and the 5th UN Ocean Forum.
He holds a PhD in International Development from the University of Oxford, focused on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and a Master’s from the University of Cambridge.
His research has been published in New Political Economy, World Politics Review, and Oxford Analytica. His upcoming book, ‘Hostile Trade Renegotiation: The Paradox of USMCA’ will be published with Georgetown University Press.
Michel Arrion is the Executive Director of the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO). Michel Arrion has served as Executive Director of the ICCO since 2019 and has been instrumental in advancing the organization’s mission to promote a sustainable World Cocoa Economy. Under his leadership, the ICCO has made significant progress in promoting transparency and cooperation within the cocoa sector. During his tenure, Mr. Arrion has overseen a number of significant initiatives, including the establishment of a five-year strategic plan putting the farmers’ income at the core of the objectives of the organization, the improvement of the ICCO statistical information, and the strengthening of relationships with key stakeholders in the cocoa sector. A Belgian national, and a lawyer by training, Mr. Arrion is a former EU civil servant who has served as Ambassador of the European Union in various African countries such as Nigeria, Rwanda, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.
Marco Arroyo Flores serves as the Vice Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce of Costa Rica.
Marco holds a Master’s degree in Constitutional Law, and Bachelor’s degrees in Law and Political Science, and is a professional with over 20 years of experience in governmental and regulatory affairs.
He currently serves as the Vice Minister for Economic Affairs, responsible for coordinating matters related to consumer protection, product quality improvement, and the strengthening of economic and market analysis to support decision-making.
He has an extensive career in the public sector, with a strong background in strategic areas such as public policy formulation, implementation, and monitoring, as well as in planning, telecommunications, environmental matters, and economic development.
He previously served as Director General of the National Environmental Technical Secretariat (SETENA) at the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), and has held key positions in the Ministries of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications, as well as National Planning, among others.
Perumal Arumugam is Manager of the Intergovernmental Negotiations and Stakeholder Interaction, Mitigation Division, UNFCCC Secretariat.
He is a chemical engineer by graduation and a post graduate in energy management and certified Energy Auditor, with more than sixteen years of experience in conceptualizing, developing and implementing climate mitigation projects across globe covering varied sectors and technical areas using international financing schemes and mechanisms.
At United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), he manages the work on capacity building initiative on article 6. Providing senior technical advice on substantive technical issues relating to quantification of mitigation benefits across various sectors, including that of the aviation related mitigation methodologies.
At UNFCCC, he also leads and support intergovernmental process of negotiations in relation to the agenda items on all international co-operative and market related mechanisms and issues under the Kyoto protocol (CDM review, CDM guidance and JI guidance) and the Paris agreement (Article 6). He has led negotiations on issues related to eligibility of new HCFC-22 facilities under CDM and issues related to Global carbon reserve for CCS technologies under CDM.
Participating in International civil aviation organization (ICAO) process as Global Market based measures expert in its working groups related to Emission units criteria and registries, also as member of the Alternative fuel task force, and as an advisor to the CAEP member of the UNFCCC to the ICAO in its CORSIA development process.
Prior to joining the UNFCCC, consecutively for four years elected from the Asia pacific region as expert member to support decision making by the CDM – Executive Board in areas of both large and small scale methodologies, assessment of CDM projects and accreditation of DOE. He has experience in implementation of energy efficiency measures in more than 50 industrial facilities. The only member ever to hold all four positions.