Countries continue to face gaps in collecting, interpreting, and using data on trade in services to design effective trade policies for development. Following a recommendation from the UNCTAD informal working group on data for trade in services and development policies, UNCTAD developed the Primer on data for trade in services and development policies to respond to these challenges.
The Primer provides a one-stop shop with practical guidance on how to identify and use data from national, regional, and international sources. It helps to pinpoint data gaps and capacity-building needs. The Primer introduces conceptual foundations to measure and understand services trade data, provides a comprehensive overview of main services trade datasets and complementary datasets, and concludes with recommendations to improve data on services trade.
UNCTAD and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) are co-organising this webinar to discuss how the Primer can be applied in Latin American policy settings, reflecting regional priorities and realities.
Objective
The webinar is intended to support effective use of services trade data in policymaking and to collect feedback that informs support from the United Nations, with future iterations of the Primer and related implementation.
This webinar aims to:
- Share the Primer’s key messages and insights relevant for policymaking.
- Demonstrate how the Primer can be applied in real policy settings.
- Foster dialogue on improving services trade data and its use in policies.
- Collect feedback to inform future updates and other support.
To pursue these objectives, the webinar will:
- Present the Primer’s content, main messages, why it matters for policies.
- Invite experts from Latin America to share relevant examples illustrating the relevance of services trade data and of the Primer for policymaking.
- Invite delegates of member States and other participants to discuss perspectives on the use of the Primer and future work in this area.
Participants
The webinar is designed to support a broad range of stakeholders that can use the Primer in Latin America.
The webinar is open to users of services trade data and analysis such as policymakers and officials from trade and sectoral ministries related to services, diplomats, trade negotiators, experts on services trade promotion, experts on services market intelligence, services coalitions and services’ firms.
The webinar also targets researchers, academics, officials from regional and international organizations and other analysts that use services trade data.
The webinar also welcomes statisticians and other participants that collect, process and communicate services trade data, including from national statistical offices and central banks. The webinar is held in Spanish. Participation is online via Zoom.
Documents
The documents on this page (statements and presentations) will be available until 15 September 2026. They are made available in the language and form in which they are received. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNCTAD.
Luz Maria de la Mora is the Director of UNCTAD's Division on International Trade and Commodities. As a former Vice-Minister for International Trade and decades of government and private sector positions, Ms. de la Mora developed a career in international trade policy, negotiation, operations, and trade promotion.
During her tenure as Vice-Minister for International Trade of Mexico from 2018 to 2022, Ms. de la Mora led Mexico's trade and investment policy, overseeing fourteen free trade agreements with 51 countries. To bolster Mexico's development, she steered discussions in the World Trade Organization, the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Pacific Alliance, among others. She also coordinated policy dialogues and handled private sector consultations.
Ms. de la Mora holds a PhD in Political Science from Yale University, USA, a Master's degree in International Affairs from Carleton University, Canada, and a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from El Colegio de México, Mexico.
She is fluent in English and Spanish, and proficient in French.
Bruno Antunes works on economic affairs at the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and previously at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Applies policy analyses and delivers technical assistance and capacity building on trade in services to promote sustainable and inclusive economic development. Focuses on the role of services in diversification and structural transformation.
Keiji Inoue is currently interim Chief of the International Trade and Integration Division at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile. He started his career at the United Nations in 1995 as fiscal policy expert at the Economic Development Division at ECLAC. From 2002, he was the macroeconomic analyst for Latin America and the Caribbean in the Development Policy Analysis Division at the Department for Economic and Social Affairs at the UN headquarters in New York; and later became the coordinator of the Secretary-General’s Millennium Development Goals Task Force analyzing and monitoring MDG 8, the Global Partnership for Development, along with over 30 UN agencies and the international financial institutions. He holds an MA in International Economics and Development Studies from Sophia University, Japan and a BA from Tufts University, USA.
Nanno Mulder is Head of the International Trade Unit in ECLAC’s International Trade and Integration Division. His main areas of research and technical assistance are global value chains in general and digital services in particular, e-commerce, and sustainable trade, with a focus on three key areas: the internationalisation of SMEs, gender gaps, and the circular economy. Mr Mulder worked as an economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the Latin America team of the Economics Department (2002–2005) and as a researcher at the French Centre for Prospective and International Studies (CEPII) (1996–2002). He holds a Master’s degree and a PhD in Economics from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Mr Mulder is also co-founder and president of the Latin American network for research and policy on services, REDLAS.
Javier Pérez Ibáñez is an Economic Affairs Officer in the International Trade and Integration Division of ECLAC. His work focuses on international trade, productive development, and trade in services. He holds a PhD in Economic Development and has researched topics related to global value chains, industrial policy, and productive transformation in Latin America.
Romina Gayá is an economist and international consultant specializing in trade in services, the knowledge economy and internationalization strategies. For more than 20 years, she has advised governments, companies and international organizations on public policy, measurement, export promotion and the competitive development of services. She is a Professor of International Economics at the University of Bologna and UADE.
Rodrigo Céspedes is an industrial engineer with years of experience in public policy and program management. At Chile's Ministry of Finance, he serves as Project Manager of the Global Services Export Program, financed by the IDB, where he manages interinstitutional coordination and results-based reporting systems.
Rigoberto Torres Mora is Director of the Organizational Data Analysis Department at the Central Bank of Costa Rica. With more than four decades of experience in international accounts, balance of payments and macroeconomic statistics, he has served as an international consultant, university lecturer and expert in a United Nations working group. He holds a PhD in Economic and Business Sciences and is the author of the book International Accounts: Methodological, Conceptual and Analytical Aspects.
Ilena Carolina Rosario Rodríguez holds a Law Degree from Universidad Iberoamericana, a Master's Degree in International Law from the Higher Institute of Law and Economics at the University of Barcelona, and a specialization in Trade Policy from the World Trade Organization and in Constitutional Law from the University of Castilla-La Mancha. She has over 14 years of experience in the areas of Foreign Trade, Trade Disciplines, Dispute Settlement, Investment, Services, and Public Policy; particularly in negotiation in international forums, modernization and harmonization of international trade rules, and the design and implementation of public policies. She has received training in Community Law and Regional Economic Integration, Trade and Development, and Dispute Settlement. She has been an international panellist and invited speaker at various organizations such as the WTO, UNCTAD, ECLAC, and UNCITRAL. She teaches at the master's and undergraduate levels at UNIBE and APEC universities. He has published several works, most notably "Trade in Services in International Trade Agreements" and "Professional Services in the EPA," works that served as the basis for her most relevant project: The first National Strategy for the Export of Modern Services.
