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.
Ambassador Jukka Salovaara has been the Permanent State Secretary in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland since May 2022.
The Permanent State Secretary is the most senior civil servant in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, with overall responsibility for the Foreign Ministry and Finnish diplomatic representations abroad.
Ambassador Salovaara has worked for the Finnish Foreign Ministry from 1995, serving in several senior positions as the Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations, Director General for Political Affairs, and Director General for Europe.
He also served in the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office as Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister, EU Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister and Under-Secretary for EU Affairs. He also served the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament.
Ambassador Salovaara graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1992 with a Master’s in Political Science.
Charlotte Salpin is a Senior Legal Officer at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations, where she has worked for 20 years.
She currently heads the cluster providing the interim secretariat for the BBNJ Agreement and also dealing with the protection and preservation of the marine environment, marine scientific research and sustainable development issues. A former Senior Legal Officer at the International Seabed Authority, she started her UN career at the Law Division of the United Nations Environment Programme. Charlotte has followed the BBNJ process since its inception in 2004 and currently serves as the Secretary of the Preparatory Commission to prepare for the entry into force of the Agreement.
Charlotte holds an advanced postgraduate university degree in public international law from Paris University (Panthéon-Assas) and an LLM in environmental law from London University (School of Oriental and African Studies).
Joan May Salvador is Secretary General of GABRIELA Alliance of Women in the Philippines, the biggest and broadest women’s organization in the Philippines that has for nearly four decades worked for the promotion and defense of the rights and interests of women in all spheres.
She is also member of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD)’s Women Interrogating Trade and Corporate Hegemony (WITCH) Programme Organising Committee, which focuses on building the capacity of women’s rights organisations to understand the impact of trade and investments rules on women’s human rights; and increase the power of feminist movements to interrogate and halt the growing power of corporations.
CHEA Samnang, Deputy Director of International Customs Cooperation Department, have been working for Cambodia Customs for 15 years mainly on Customs Valuation, multilateral cooperation, the implementation of WTO TFA and negotiation and implementation of FTAs. He was recently recognized as WCO accredited expert on RKC and Mercator Programme Advisor on WTO TFA in 2019.
He is also working for the Supreme National Economic Council. He contributed his research on labor market, Cambodia Vision 2050, rectangular strategy of the government and policy framework of the digital economy of Cambodia. Before joining Customs, He has four year experiences as Economist Researcher, Head of globalization and economic integration research program at the Economic Institute of Cambodia.
He has written many articles about the economic affects of Cambodia’s accession to the WTO and Customs Procedures, some of which have been published in the Yale Journal and the Cambridge University Press. He taught the Trade Policy Review Course co-organized by WTO and Hong Kong University. He is currently remote Ph.D. Candidate at Adelaide University with Research topic on “Globalization, Uneven Growth and Human Capital Development: Case of Developing Country”
Nuno Sampaio was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation for the Government of Portugal on 5 April 2024.
Previously he served as Political Advisor to the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and was Advisor for Parliamentary Affairs to the former President, Anibal Cavaco Silva.
He was also Assistant Professor, Integrated Researcher, Head of International Programs and Vice-president of the Strategic Council at the Institute for Political Studies of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon.
Mr. Sampaio holds a PhD and Master’s in Political Science and International Relations; undergraduate degree in International Relations.
Alessandro Sanches Pereira is Executive Director and co-founder of Instituto 17, a Brazilian think-tank dedicated to applied research, capacity-building, and technical cooperation on sustainable development, bioeconomy, and climate policy.
He serves as a Member of the UN Secretary-General’s Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET), contributing to global pathways for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
He was also a Lead Author of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (Working Group III, Chapter 5). With over 25 years of experience in energy transition, sustainable finance, and the circular economy, Alessandro has advised national governments, UN agencies, and multilateral initiatives on methane mitigation, clean cooking, and low-carbon fuels.
His current work focuses on the role of biogas and biomethane in shipping, agriculture, and urban systems, bridging technical feasibility with socioeconomic and policy dimensions. He brings a developing-country perspective to international debates on climate and energy transitions.
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.