Sun Yao is currently the Deputy-Director of the Executive Committee Office for China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), responsible for the daily work in the office. He is also the Director of Beijing Investment Promotion Service Center, responsible for the investment promotion and attraction in Beijing.

He was previously the head of the Planning and Finance Division of Beijing Municipal Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission, the head of the Foreign Trade Planning and Finance Division of Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, the head of the Finance Division of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce, as well as Deputy-Director of the Commission. Since 2018, he has been the Deputy-Director of Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, responsible for the organization of CIFTIS, the trade development in Beijing, and the convention and exhibition industry in Beijing. He has also received the professional title of Senior International Business Engineer.

He received his master's degree at Jilin University of Technology in Administrative Engineering and pursued further studies at University of Giessen in Germany from 1993 to 1994.

Yuki Yasui joined UNEP in 2002 and has worked on various projects including the joint project with GRI in developing its Financial Services Sector Supplement, developing and running the UNEP FI online course on climate change for the finance sector and preparations for Rio+20. Yuki represents UNEP at the International Integrated Reporting Council’s Working Group and formerly participated in the development of the Global Reporting Initiative’s G4 via its Working Group. She is a chartered accountant in the UK (ACA) and trained and worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Yuki has a BSc honours degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford.

Hakan Yavuz is a Senior Debt Specialist in the Global Debt Unit of the World Bank, with 23 years of experience in sovereign debt and risk management. Before joining the Bank, he held various managerial positions in the Turkish Treasury and worked as an economist at the European Commission.

Hakan holds a masters degree in Applied Economics and Finance from the University of California and is a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) by the Global Association of Risk Professionals.

Mr. Zhang worked for the Township Enterprise Department of China Xinlong Co., Ltd.; the Light Industry Department of Shenzhen Jintian Industrial Co., Ltd.; the American Business Department of ChinaStar Limited for International Economic & Technical Cooperation; the Sales Department of Shenzhen Shunfeng Watong Paper Product Co., Ltd.; the Beijing Representative Office of Hong Kong Bailidu Investment Company; Hong Kong Zhihong International Company. Since November, 1994, Mr. Zhang joined China Minmetals Corporation (CMC) as Deputy Manager of Coal Business Department, General Manager of Strategic Planning & Development Department of China National Minerals Co., Ltd. (CNM), and Executive Director of CNM in the follow-up years. Since August, 2010, Executive Director, Minmetals Mining Holdings (MMHL, the ferrous resource sector of CMC). Since July, 2015, Chief of Staff & Director of the Board Office, CMC. Since March, 2018, Assistant President of Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. Since June, 2018, Vice President of Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. in charge of overseas EPC contracting business. Mr. Zhang obtains a Bachelor's Degree in English of foreign trade from the University of International Business and Economics; an EMBA from the University of Science and Technology Beijing. Mr. Zhang is a senior international business engineer.

Maksim Yermalovich was appointed Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation on February 1, 2024. In this role, his responsibilities include:

• Overseeing competition policy within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
• Ensuring compliance with general competition rules in cross-border markets of the EAEU, including detecting and addressing anti-competitive behavior across Member States.
• Managing public procurement policy within the EAEU.

Since August 1, 2022, Maksim Yermalovich held the position of Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus.

On July 20, 2020, he was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with concurrent accreditation as Ambassador to Ireland.

Between 2011 and 2014, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Finance, followed by serving as First Deputy Minister of Finance from 2014 to 2018. On August 31, 2018, Maksim was appointed Minister of Finance of the Republic of Belarus.

From 1999 to 2002, Maksim held various positions within the State Tax Committee of Belarus (now the Ministry of Taxes and Duties). He then served in the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus from 2002 to 2011, where he was Deputy Head of the Tax Revenue Department and Head of the Budget Policy Directorate.

Maksim Yermalovich was born on June 26, 1977, in Lepel, Vitebsk Region, Republic of Belarus. He graduated from the Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the President of the Republic of Belarus.

Ilcheong YI is Senior Research Coordinator in the Social Policy and Development Programme and in the Social Dimensions of Sustainable Development Programme at UNRISD. He joined UNRISD in October 2008. He was trained as a political scientist (B.A. and M.A. from the Department of Political Science, Seoul National University, Korea) and as a social policy analyst (D.Phil from Oxford University, UK). His research interests lie in the issues of poverty, social policy, labour policy, social economy, sustainability reporting measurement methodologies and historical analysis of the economic and social development process. Prior to joining UNRISD, Ilcheong was Associate Professor at Kyushu University, Japan (2004-2008), Korea Foundation Visiting Professor in the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia (2003-2004), and Visiting Research Fellow at the Stein Rokkan Centre, University of Bergen, Norway (2002-2003).

Mr Kon Yin Tong is the President of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA). He was the former President of the ASEAN Federation of Accountants (AFA), the umbrella organisation for the national accountancy bodies in ASEAN. Mr Kon has been in the public accounting profession for more than 30 years and has been personally involved in many client engagements, including cross-border assignments. As Managing Partner of Foo Kon Tan LLP, he is responsible for the overall strategy and stewardship of the firm. His areas of practice cover litigation support and dispute resolution, including acting as an expert witness and as an assessor to the Court. Mr Kon is a first-class honours graduate from the London School of Economics.

As Associate Statistician of the United Nations Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Jessica Ying Chan works on the Division’s System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) programme. Since joining the division, she has focused on supporting member states to implement the SEEA, through the integration of economic and environmental statistics using an accounting framework. She previously worked at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), analysing audit and financial data to inform standards setting and inspections. Prior to this, she worked on education initiatives, including as a statistician at Westat, where she worked on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). She has also worked as a researcher for the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab on a study on maternal literacy in rural northern India. Jessica holds a BA in Economics from Reed College and an MSc in Statistics from American University.

Soo Hyun Yoon has been serving as the President of the Korea Consumer Agency since November 2023, following 30 years of experience at the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC).

During his tenure at the KFTC, Mr. Yoon held several leadership roles, including Director of the International Cooperation Division (2006-2010), Director for Planning and Budget (2012-2015), Spokesperson (2018), Standing Commissioner (2020-2022), and Vice Chairperson (2023). Throughout his career, Mr. Yoon contributed to the promotion and enforcement of consumer policies, including developing legislation, planning budgets, and managing cases involving law breaches.

He has also accumulated extensive experience in international cooperation. In 2007, as Director of the International Cooperation Division, Mr. Yoon co-led the committee on competition during the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement negotiations. He played a key role in drafting the competition chapter, which includes provisions on cross-border consumer protection. From 2007 to 2010, he also served as the Councilor for Competition at Permanent Mission of Korea to the OECD, where he actively participated in international forums, namely the OECD Committee on Consumer Policy and UNCTAD meetings.

Since assuming the presidency of the Korea Consumer Agency in 2023, he has led consumer affairs in Korea, achieving notable successes, including resolving large-scale consumer harms and blocking unsafe consumer products from overseas.

Mr. Yoon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Missouri, USA.

Adeel Younas is a Sustainability Practitioner with over a decade of experience in environmental sustainability and stewardship. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master's degree in Business.

Currently, He serves as Manager Sustainable Supply Chain at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Pakistan leading “Pakistan Leather Sector: Traceability, Cleaner Production and Circularity” project aimed at piloting innovative solutions around traceability, cleaner production and circularity for reducing the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the manufacturing sector in Pakistan. Adeel Younas is also engaged as expert with Leather Working Group (LWG)’s technical task team and assessor for productivity specialist for Asian Productivity Organization (APO) Japan.