Poul Hansen is responsible for the Trade Facilitation portfolio at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Poul has extensive experience in the area of trade and transport facilitation, having worked for more than 20 years in the UN system on issues such as international trade, transportation, transit, development, international standards, previously working at the UNECE as Secretary for the TIR and International Harmonization Conventions etc.

Prior to joining the UN, Poul worked for more than 10 years in the private sector in public affairs, management consulting and logistics, including with Ernst & Young. Poul has studied both master and bachelor levels in Business Administration and International Law from the Aarhus University and Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

Poul is a certified freight forwarding agent.

Dayang Hao is the Director of the Autonomous Driving Lab at Cainiao Network, where he has successfully invented and developed groundbreaking technologies such as Xiaomanlv, a wheeled last-mile logistics robot, and Damanlv, an unmanned semi-truck. With extensive experience in Planning & Control, he has led a research team that specializes in implementing mathematical optimization methods and learning techniques for the path and speed planning modules of autonomous driving vehicles. Before his involvement in autonomous driving, Dayang spent seven years working on online advertising system development at Baidu and Facebook. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engineering from Zhejiang University and a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Missouri.

Shanchita Haque, a career diplomat of Bangladesh, is currently serving at the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations in Geneva as Deputy Permanent Representative. She has deep knowledge and experience in multilateral diplomacy particularly on development issues such as SDGs, climate change, financing for development, graduation, LDC matters, migration and so on. She has represented her country in the negotiations on many global documents including 2030 Agenda and SDGs, Paris Agreement, Addis Ababa Action Agenda, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. She has also worked extensively on human rights and humanitarian affairs, health and labour rights related issues.

Ms. Haque has previously served in the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh in New York and Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi. At the Headquarters, she worked in different capacities, including as Director for Multilateral Economic Affairs, Director at Foreign Minister’s Office, Senior Assistant Secretary for United Nations. 

Ms. Haque obtained a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, and a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Born in 1976 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Ms. Haque is married with one daughter. 

Dr Nicholas Hardman-Mountford FMBA is a diplomat and marine scientist working in ocean, climate and resource governance and multilateral development, with a strong focus on sustainable blue economies.

He is Head of Oceans and Natural Resources at the Commonwealth Secretariat, where he leads a technical advisory team delivering the Commonwealth Blue Charter initiative and technical-assistance projects on ocean governance and natural-resources reform in Commonwealth countries.

Dr Hardman-Mountford was previously principal scientist at Australia’s national research agency, CSIRO, where he led the Indian Ocean Ecology and Oceanography Group. He is adjunct professor at the University of Western Australia.

Jeffrey Hardy is the Director-General of the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT), and has been since its inception in 2017.

Before joining TRACIT, he led various special initiatives for the International Chamber of Commerce on G20, anti-counterfeiting, climate change, SMEs and sustainable development.

As President of IDA Consulting, Mr. Hardy helped dozens of international trade associations more effectively navigate legislative and regulatory regimes. From 1985 to 1998, he worked for the United States Government.

Gemma Harper OBE is Chief Executive of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). Prior to joining JNCC, Gemma was Deputy Director of Marine policy and Deputy Race Champion in Defra. She was awarded an OBE for services to the marine environment. She also co-led Defra’s Food Vulnerability directorate to win the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion ‘Impact on the Citizen’ award. 

From 2010 to 2017, Gemma was Defra’s Chief Social Scientist and a member of the British Academy Public Policy Committee, the Social Research Association Strategy Group and the Government Social Research Leadership Board. In 2020, Gemma was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Gemma was awarded the Defra Leadership Award twice and is a University of Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy Fellow.
In 2023, Gemma was appointed to the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Conservation Board. She is advisor to the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH) and the UCL-led Capabilities in Academic Policy Engagement (CAPE). Gemma founded and co-chairs the Civil Service Network for Nature, whose mission is to connect civil and public servants to celebrate nature.

Mr. Harris brings over 25 years of international experience in the fields of international economics and development policy analysis, coupled with knowledge of the United Nations system, multilateral and inter–agency coordination processes.  He has extensive experience in the design of macroeconomic policies and its application as a central instrument for the reduction of poverty and for resilient and sustained economic development.

His work in the field of economics also focuses on the macroeconomic linkages with global social and environmental policies.
Since 2015, Mr. Harris has served as Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).  He joined UNEP’s Senior Management Team in 2013 as Director of the New York Office and Secretary to the Environment Management Group.

Prior to joining UNEP, Mr. Harris began his career in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1988, where he worked in the African Department and the Fiscal Affairs Department.  In 2002 he became an Adviser in the Policy Development and Review Department, and was appointed in 2008 as Special Representative to the United Nations, in addition to serving as Assistant Director of the Strategy and Policy Review Department.
Mr. Harris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in German and political science and an advanced degree in economics.  He was awarded an Advanced Studies Certificate in international economics and policy research from the Institute of World Economics in Kiel, Germany.

Natalie Harsdorf-Borsch, is a lawyer in competition law and since 2021 interim head of the Austrian Competition Authority . She has been working for the Federal Competition Authority (BWB) since 2009. She is the first woman to head the highest competition authority in Austria. Natalie Harsdorf-Borsch is the author of numerous specialist publications in the field of antitrust law. She is also the founder of the Women Competition Law Network Austria.

Ms. Trudi Hartzenberg is the Executive Director of tralac (Trade Law Centre) based in the Western Cape region of South Africa.

Her research is in the areas of international trade, competition policy, industrial development and Africa's integration agenda. She currently serves on the WTO Chairs Advisory Committee and is a member of the Committee for Development Policy of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Ena Harvey currently serves as the Barbados Representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and is also IICA’s Lead Specialist in Agrotourism, providing support for the development and implementation of regional and hemispheric programmes to promote agrotourism linkages and rural tourism in the Caribbean and Latin America.

A graduate of the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Tropical Agriculture, and the University of Guelph, Canada in Agricultural Engineering, and with specialized training and certification in HACCP Food Safety systems and World Class Benchmarking for SMEs, Ena Harvey has over 30 years experience in the Agri-Food sector. Her career spans 5 years at CARIRI as a Food Technologist providing technical assistance to agribusinesses in Trinidad & Tobago, after which she worked as a private consultant to several regional and international agencies on projects covering trade and agro-industrial development, export competitiveness, food safety, food security, and agro-tourism linkages. Her work has taken her to over 20 Caribbean countries, as well as Latin America, Mauritius, Morocco, and the South Pacific.

Ena possesses a wealth of knowledge and is passionate about the food culture and heritage of the Caribbean. She has delivered several presentations and training sessions on agrotourism at regional and international conferences and was instrumental in the development of a Food Tourism Strategy for the Caribbean and the launch of a Chefs for Development Platform for SIDS.