Sustainable development is at the heart of the multilateral trading system, with trade playing a vital role in the global response to the climate crisis.
The international trade and business institutions, ICC, ITC, UNCTAD, and the WTO, have joined forces to build the Trade House Pavilion to spotlight how trade can contribute to climate action and a just transition and to support collective action throughout the COP duration alongside the first-ever Trade Day happening at a COP.
This session will serve as the Pavilion's opening with the heads of the four international organizations coming together with the UAE COP28 Presidency leadership to speak on the importance of trade being part of the Presidency Program and the UNFCCC Pavilion spaces. It will also kick off a two-week program of leaders' dialogues, stakeholders' conversations, and launch events on trade and climate aligned with the official COP28 Presidency Programme thematic days.
This event will be live streamed
Session Goals
- Build awareness on how the key international trade and business organizations joined forces with UAE to put trade on the COP28 Presidency action agenda.
- Heads of ICC, ITC, UNCTAD, and WTO identify the resources, interventions, and innovations needed to support collective action on trade to tackle the climate crisis and accelerate a just transition.
- Position the Trade House Pavilion as the ' to-go-place ' for all conversations, discussions, and major announcements at COP28 – using the hashtag #TradeHouseCOP28 to promote all.
- Identify recommendations and action items for strengthening collaboration
Programme
Welcome remarks by Moderator
- Ms. Rachel Kyte, Dean Emerita, Professor of Practice at The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Opening Keynote by COP28 Presidency
- H.E. Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Minister of Economy
Leaders panel discussion on collective action on trade and climate
- Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, WTO
- Ms. Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UNCTAD
- Ms. Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, ITC
- Mr. John Denton, Secretary General, ICC
In September 2021, Rebeca Grynspan was appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), becoming the first woman to lead the organization in its 60-year history.
Rebeca Grynspan, an economist and former Vice President of Costa Rica, is an experienced leader of international institutions with a substantive track record in government, UN diplomacy, economic policy and multilateral cooperation at the global level.
Prior to joining the United Nations, she was Vice President of Costa Rica and held cabinet positions as Minister of Housing, Minister Coordinator of Economic and Social Affairs and Deputy Finance Minister.
Previously, she served as Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Conference (2014–2021), chairing regional summits of Heads of State and Government; United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. She was a member of the UN Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti, representing the UN Secretary-General.
At UNCTAD, Grynspan has been at the centre of critical negotiations to address global trade and development challenges. She played a decisive role in the successful Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered between the UN, Türkiye, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, which enabled the safe export of over 32 million tons of grain, lowered global food prices by 22% and prevented millions from falling into food insecurity. She also leads the UN Global Crisis Response Group on food, energy and finance, and has represented the UN in G20 summits.
Her leadership has been recognized widely. In 2024, she received the Doha Negotiator of the Year Award for spearheading UN efforts to restore Black Sea trade routes. In 2025, Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation awarded her the inaugural Isabel Oyarzábal Women in Multilateralism International Prize for her contribution to multilateralism.
Ms. Grynspan holds degrees in economics from the University of Costa Rica and the University of Sussex, and honorary doctorates from several European universities.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. The first woman and first African to hold the position.
She is an economist and international development expert with over 40 years of experience. Dr Okonjo-Iweala was Chair of the Board of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, African Risk Capacity and Co-Chair of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, in addition to serving as a Senior Advisor at Lazard and sitting on the Boards of Standard Chartered and Twitter, now X. She is Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Harvard Kennedy School Global Public Leader.
She served as Nigeria’s first female and longest serving Finance Minister (7 years) and was also the first female Foreign Minister. Her 25-year career at the World Bank culminated in her rising to the No.2 position of Managing Director, Operations. Dr Okonjo-Iweala is the recipient of numerous honours and has authored several books. She holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard University and a PhD in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Pamela Coke-Hamilton has served as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre since 1 October 2020. She joined ITC from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), where she was Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities.
Ms. Coke-Hamilton has a breadth of experience and expertise in trade-related capacity-building and sustainable development. She served with the Jamaican Government, the Caribbean Forum in trade negotiations, and multilateral institutions, including the Organization of American States and InterAmerican Development Bank. She previously served as Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, strengthening the private sector and micro, small and medium enterprises through investment promotion.
She has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable economies such as the small island developing States and least developed countries. Ms. Coke-Hamilton has worked extensively with the private sector across African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and academia to build trade-related institutional strength within member States. She also established the Women Empowered through Export (WeXport) platform to address the disadvantages that women-owned firms experience in accessing markets.
Ms. Coke-Hamilton holds a Juris Doctor in Law from the Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, DC, and a BSc in International Relations and Economics from the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.
John W.H. Denton AO is the Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). He is a global business leader, international advisor on policy and a legal expert on international trade and investment.
He serves as Board member of the UN Global Compact, Founding Member of the Business 20 (B20), and Co-Chair of Italy B20 working group on Finance and Infrastructure. He is Co-Founder of the Australia-China CEO Roundtable and Patron of UNHCR in Australia.
Board member of the IFM Global Investors - a global institutional investment manager, John is also Chair of the Asia Pacific advisory board of Veracity, a global advisory group based in New York, and Chair of the Moeller Institute advisory board at the University of Cambridge.
He also serves on the Boards of the UNDP (New York) impact investing steering group, and of UNICEF's global education initiative: GenU. He joined the Advisory Board of the African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank (AfGIIB) and the G7 Working Group on Impact Investment.
