César Sánchez Icaza, Under-Secretary for Foreign Trade Policy and Under-Secretary for International Negotiations. Lawyer from the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil, with over two decades of professional experience in commercial law, oil & gas, environmental law, and telecommunications. Holds a Master’s degree in Mining, Oil and Energy from the Externado University of Colombia, and a Master’s degree in Legal Argumentation from the University of Alicante. He has served as a lecturer at the International University of Ecuador, Ecotec University, Casa Grande University, and the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil.
José R. Sánchez-Fung is the Dominican Republic’s ambassador and permanent representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Preceding the appointment in Geneva, Dr. Sánchez-Fung was ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, and head of the diplomatic mission, of the Dominican Republic to Switzerland based in Bern. Before joining his country’s foreign service, Dr. Sánchez-Fung taught economics at the University of Nottingham (Ningbo, China) and Kingston University London (with tenure).
He currently holds an adjunct professorship at Western Michigan University’s department of economics (Michigan, USA). Ambassador Sánchez-Fung’s national public service includes working as an economist in the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo in the role of director of economic research and voting member of the monetary policy-making Open Market Committee. He has also served as an honorific advisor to the Dominican Republic’s Senate - the upper house of the national parliament.
Ambassador Sánchez-Fung holds an undergraduate degree in economics from PUCMM in Santo Domingo, and MA and PhD degrees in economics from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom.
Natalie Sandiford is an Attorney-at-Law, with over eighteen years of experience in the legal field, with a specialized focus on maritime law. Her work in the maritime field has propelled her to President of the Women in Maritime Association Caribbean Barbados Chapter Inc., a national chapter of Women in Maritime Association, Caribbean.
Natalie is a passionate advocate for women's empowerment and bridging the gender gap in the maritime industry. Natalie is also the founder of Altus Chambers and Managing Director of Altus Regional Corporate Solutions where her expertise extends to providing professional legal advice on maritime law and policy and consultant services.
Over the course of her career, Natalie has worked with various private and public institutions in the maritime sector to provide legal advice on compliance with international laws, mitigate risks associated with cross-border trade, and devise legal and strategic solutions to complex challenges throughout the global supply chain.
Roberto Sandoval is currently the Disaster Risk Management Specialist and Emergency Focal Point of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' (FAO-UN) Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean, based in Barbados. He has been working for FAO since 2011 in the areas of Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation. Prior to joining the FAO Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean, he has been providing technical advice to the Ministries of Agriculture of the Philippines and Myanmar on Disaster Risk Reduction, Emergency Response, and Climate Change Adaptation.
His specific experiences include facilitating national agriculture DRM planning processes; disaster and climate change vulnerability, risk and impact assessments; community-based DRM/CCA planning and implementation; and integrating DRM/CCA into ecosystems-based/NRM approaches.
Dr. Sandoval is also an expert on systematic Drone-assisted Risk and Rapid Disaster Impact Assessments that utilizes a combination of drone, satellite and community-generated data. He is an environmental scientist by training.
Nielsimms Sangho is an accomplished professional at the forefront of the fintech, logistics, and eCommerce sectors, driving innovation and growth across Africa. With a diverse skill set and a passion for solving African challenges, he has built a remarkable career marked by entrepreneurial drive, strategic leadership, and a deep understanding of regional markets.
As Regional Manager for East Africa at Flutterwave-Africa’s leading fintech unicorn-he led the company’s expansion into several African markets, including Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. He also founded Buy2Africa (formerly InterShip), playing a pivotal role in connecting SMEs and individuals to international online stores across East Africa, South Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Nielsimms’ work has earned him international recognition as a Seedstars Africa 2015 winner and one of only 18 Alibaba eFounders selected in 2018. Beyond his professional accomplishments, he is a passionate advocate for sustainable growth, coaching as a John Maxwell Fellow, mentoring with Google for Startups, and empowering innovators across global tech hubs.
He is currently building ShipShap, an early-stage logistics technology company creating shipping infrastructure and tools for businesses in Africa and the MENA region. With his commitment to solving African problems, Nielsimms continues to shape the continent’s fintech, logistics, and eCommerce future.
Jayvee is the Regional Coordinator for the Pacific for ASYCUDA, the largest UNCTAD technical cooperation programme. He started with UNCTAD for the ASYCUDA Project in the Philippines in 1997. Jayvee was posted in Timor-Leste and Malaysia from 2002 to 2014, where he supported more than 20 country projects in Asia and the Pacific. He moved to Suva, Fiji in November 2021 where his office is involved in customs modernization projects in 15 countries and territory.
Augusto Santos Silva was born in Oporto in 1956. He has a PhD in Sociology from ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (1992) - and is a Professor in Faculdade de Economia da Universidade do Porto. His political career has included many high-ranking posts in the Portuguese Government as Minister for Foreign Affairs (2015-2019), Minister of National Defense (2009-2011), Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (2005-2009), Minister of Culture (2001-2002), Minister of Education (2000-2001) and as Secretary of State for Educational Administration (1999-2000). He was also a Member of Parliament (2002-2005 and 2011). Between 1998 and 1999 he was Dean of Universidade do Porto and Chairman of the scientific council of Faculdade de Economia do Porto. Affiliated with Socialist Party since 1990, he is – nowadays – member of its national political commission. He has several books published related to Sociology and Political Ideas.
Dr. Amelia U. Santos-Paulino is Chief of the Investment Issues at UNCTAD’s Division on Investment and Enterprise.
Previously, she was a Senior Economist at UNCTAD’s Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes Division. Before joining UNCTAD, she was Research Fellow and Project Director in the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, Professorial Research Fellow in the University of Sussex’s Institute of Development Studies, and Senior Research Economist in the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic.
She served as Senior Adviser of the Dominican Republic’s Government on International Trade and Investment for the negotiations of the US-DR-CAFTA Free Trade Agreement, amongst other full-time posts within the civil service and academia of the Dominican Republic. She has also held visiting posts at the University of California, Davis, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Fudan University in Shanghai, and the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo.
Her work has been published in journals including the Economic Journal, Cambridge Journal of Economics, and World Development, and has also edited books published by Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press.
She holds PhD and MA degrees in Economics from the University of Kent in the UK.
Stefano Santucci is a Professor of International Accounting at the University of Pavia.
As an accounting expert, he contributed to developing the SMEGA level 3 of ISAR.
His work emphasizes the accounting practices for small, medium-sized, and micro-entities, addressing the informal economy issues.
His research outputs include essays and books on Financial Accounting and Business Valuation in Italian and English.
Being a very experienced CPA and Auditor and a Professor of International Accounting, he provides insights into both practical and theoretical aspects of this topic. He promotes appropriate accounting standards and frameworks for Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Entities.