Ms. Ines Tofalo, Trust Fund and Project Management Specialist at the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) coordinates the portfolio of South-South Trust Funds and Programmes that is implemented through the United Nations System for the benefit of developing countries. Namely, she manages the UN Fund for South-South Cooperation (UNFSSC) established through a UN General Assembly resolution; the India, Brazil and South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation (IBSA Fund) spearheaded by these three countries that prioritizes support to Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States; the India-UN Development Partnership Fund (India-UN Fund) which is a $150 million financing mechanism; and the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund (PGTF) of the Group of 77. Her portfolio also includes projects directly implemented by UNOSSC within these facilities, with the largest ones being the partnership with China P.R.C. facilitating South-South networks and City-to-City sharing, and the Triangular cooperation facility by the Republic of Korea supporting the lower Mekong river basin.
Ines has worked mostly on South-South cooperation since 2007, initially at UNDP, through secondments to FAO and UNESCO, and largely at UNOSSC. Previously, she has also worked as a private sector finance attorney, for the World Bank, UN Women, the UN Secretariat and the NGO Doctors of the World. She holds a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law.
Eugene Torero is the Regional Director, Horn of Africa at TMEA. In his previous role as the Director for Trade Policy/Facilitation, he led the UNCTAD/TMEA trade facilitation project that supported East Africa Community Partner States to implement the WTO TFA compliance efforts. Eugene was also responsible for the establishment of the TMEA South Sudan Country programme whose main goal was to design and implement a customs development and trade facilitation programme in South Sudan. Prior to joining TMEA, Eugene held various positions at Rwanda Revenue Authority including that of leading customs services from 2005 - 2010.
Mr. Maximo Torero Cullen is the Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He joined the Organization in January 2019 as Assistant Director-General for the Economic and Social Development Department. Prior to joining FAO, he was the World Bank Group Executive Director for Argentina, Bolivia, Chile Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay since November 2016 and before the Bank Mr. Torero led the Division of the Markets, Trade, and Institutions at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). His major research work lies mostly in analyzing poverty, inequality, importance of geography and assets (private or public) in explaining poverty, and in policies oriented towards poverty alleviation based on the role played by infrastructure, institutions, and on how technological breakthroughs (or discontinuities) can improve the welfare of households and small farmers. His experience encompasses Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia.
Mr. Torero, a national of Peru, holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of the Pacific, Lima, Peru. He is a professor on leave at the University of the Pacific, Perú, and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at University of Bonn, Germany, and has also published in top journals (QJE, Econometric Theory, AER-Applied Microeconomics, RSTAT, Labor Economics and many other top journals).
Mr. Torero has received in 2000 the Georg Foster Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, won the Award for Outstanding Research on Development given by the Global Development Network, twice, in 2000 and in 2002, and received the Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole in 2014.
Wendy is the supervisor of International Relations at the Legal Department of the National Customs of Bolivia. She has several years of experience working with National Customs.
She has excelled in various areas of the customs domain, making significant contributions to technical capacities across Customs administrations, free zones, borders, the central customs office among others.
She is actively involved in the preparation of regulations and manuals for customs operations, Wendy is also a member of the technical secretariat of the National Trade Facilitation Committee of Bolivia.
Jair Torres is the Programme Management Officer of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) for the Americas and the Caribbean, based in Bridgetown, Barbados. He is the UNDRR focal point for the Early Warning for All Initiative and for the different regional and national's projects related to MHEWS, for instance through the Climate Related Early Warning Systems (CREWS).
For more than 13 years he worked at UNESCO where he served as a consultant in the Unit for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience, as well as contributing to the International Hydrological Program and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
He was responsible for the International Platform for Earthquake Early Warning Systems, the International Network for Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems, the Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector, and the UNESCO Program to Measure Resilience.
He holds a PhD in Risk and Emergency Management from the University School for Advanced Studies of Pavia (IUSS).
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.
Juteau Deadjufo Tousse, Minister Plenipotentiary, Minister Counselor at the Permanent Mission of Cameroon to UNOG. CHAIR Of the African Regional Partnership on Sustainable Reporting since 2022. Senior Trade Negotiator, Former Vice-President of The Trade Development Board, and Chair of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Committee (SPS/WTO), I have a very long experience on trade and economic diplomacy.
Eric Trachtenberg is the Executive Director of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). Before coming to ICAC, he oversaw programs to improve food security, support agricultural transformation, and strengthen land productivity at the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). His earlier background includes 15 years’ service with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) including diplomatic assignments in different destinations, as well as founding the agricultural practice at McLarty Associates, a global strategic advisory firm.
He has a Masters’ Degrees in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University, a Masters’ in Public Administration from the University of Southern California, and Bachelors’ degrees in Government and Economics from Cornell University.
Isabelle Tracq-Sengeissen is a French CPA and a member of the IAASB since January 2018. She is an audit partner at EY in France, with 33 years of experience in auditing and works for a variety of clients. Mrs. Tracq-Sengeissen is also passionately involved in the development of auditing and accounting profession in foreign countries, especially in French speaking African countries.
Since 2022, she is the EY Global Professional Practice Sustainability Leader and a member of IAASB task force in charge of developing the exposure draft of ISSA 5000, proposed international sustainability assurance standard.
Mrs. Tracq-Sengeissen is also the chair of the auditing standard board of Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes (CNCC- France) and has been a member of that board since 2001.
She is graduated from Neoma Business School (Reims) and is a board member of Neoma Alumni association.