Mr Harold Tarosa is currently a Director at the Department of Customs and Inland Revenue in Vanuatu. He is the Chair of the National Trade Facilitation Steering Committee (NTFC) who is passionate for the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement in Vanuatu. Mr Tarosa is a member of the COVID- 19 Health Emergency Advisory Committee (HEAC) who advocates and facilitate the movement of people and cargos in and out of the country, both through Air flights and Sea board cargos. The HEAC provides advice to the government and people during this pandemic crisis. Mr Tarosa has been working for customs for almost 16 years, therefore holds excellent knowledge on customs legislation, processes and procedures and Customs risk managements. Mr Tarosa displays positive work ethics in conduct and behaviours, towards his working colleagues and clients.
Lucas Tasquetto is currently the General-Coordinator for Trade Policies at the Ministry of Finance of Brazil.
Before that, he was a coordinator at the Undersecretariat for Sustainable Development Finance at the Secretariat of International Affairs, working at the Brazilian presidency of the G20's Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) and the Task Force for the Global Mobilization against Climate Change.
He is a professor of International Relations at the Federal University of ABC (São Paulo, Brazil). His work focused mainly on trade governance, international institutions and digital technologies.
He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of São Paulo and a master's degree in Law from the Federal University of Santa Catarina.
He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and held research positions at the King's College London and at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas School of Economics.
H.E. Mrs. Francisca Tatchouop Belobe (Equatorial Guinea, Central Region) was elected to lead the Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry, and Minerals (ETTIM) Department. Prior to this role, she served as Vice-President of the Commission of the Economic Community of East African States (ECCAS). She previously served as 2nd Vice-President of Equatorial Guinea’s National Assembly, and Minister and Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade, and Promotion of Small to Medium Enterprises. She holds a master’s degree in political science with a focus on development from the Johan Wolfgang von Goethe Universitat, and has extensive experience in national, regional, and international roles.
Ville Tavio is a Member of Parliament representing Finland and currently serves as the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development.
He has over ten years of experience in municipal politics. Tavio first entered Parliament in 2015, where he has chaired the Finns Party Parliamentary Group and served on several key committees, including the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Grand Committee, and the Legal Affairs Committee. Additionally, he was a long-time member of the Concern Section of the City Board of Turku.
His experience extends to supervisory roles, as he has been a member of the boards of VR Group Ltd, which is Finland's government-owned railway company, and Veikkaus Ltd, the government-owned betting agency. Tavio also founded a law firm specializing in litigation.
He earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Turku in 2012.
Ambassador Nella Pepe Tavita-Levy is the Permanent Representative of Samoa to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva.
Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Tavita Levy had been working as the Assistant Chief Executive Officer of the Trade Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Samoa since April 2016. She was a Counsellor at the Embassy of Samoa in Brussels, Belgium, from November 2012 to March 2016.
Ms. Tavita Levy has represented Samoa in various international forums and negotiations, including support for Samoa’s ministerial representation in international meetings such as the WTO Ministerial Conferences, ACP/EU Council and Trade Ministers, Pacific Forum Leaders, Trade and Economic Ministers meetings, providing policy advice on trade sustainable development and regional initiatives.
Ms. Tavita Levy holds a Master in Business Administration from the University of Newcastle, Australia (2008) and a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand (1998). She completed the Certificate of Mastering Trade Policy from the JFK School of Government – Executive Education, Harvard University, Massachusetts, United States (2010).
George Tavo is the Deputy Secretary Operations of the Ministry of Public Works, Meteorological Services and Transport of Fiji.
With a career spanning over 35 years in Government, he has served extensively across Fiji in the field of construction management, project management and contract administration working very closely with other professionals such as architects, quantity surveyors, engineers (civil, structural, mechanical and electrical) that are involved in the construction and built environment sector.
He provides advice to the Permanent Secretary and Minister on policy, administration and operational matters associated with Transport (land and maritime), shipping services, energy, meteorological and hydrological services, water and sewerage, roads and public works construction.
Desmond Tay is currently the Regional Director (Americas) with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), stationed in San Francisco.
Prior to his current appointment, he was with the Innovation, Technology and Talent Development Division. He is responsible for catalysing innovation initiatives such as PIER71, the Maritime Innovation Leadership Roundtable, the Smart Port Challenge and the Maritime Drone Estate.
Desmond currently holds a computing degree and an MBA from Monash University and the University of Adelaide. He has spent more than 15 years in managing and developing IT solutions for the maritime industry and MPA.
Leveraging on his technical expertise and industry knowledge, he is passionate about working with marinetech start-ups to reimagine their solutions for the maritime industry.
Alicia Taylor is an Investment Management Lead Officer, in the Infrastructure and Energy division at IDB Invest in Trinidad. She is responsible for originating and structuring sustainable development financing projects in the energy, transportation, water and sanitation, and social infrastructure sectors throughout the Caribbean countries in which the Bank operates.
Before joining the IDB Group, she was a Partner at The Phi Group Limited providing financial advisory consultancy services to clients in several sectors including the Financial, Infrastructure, Energy, Hospitality and Manufacturing sectors.
With more than twenty years of experience in the Financial services sector, Ms. Taylor has held several senior positions such as Cash Manager and Trade Head (Caribbean) at Citibank, Assistant Vice President at AIC Finance Limited and Head of Scotiatrust and Merchant Bank Limited. Alicia earned an International Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from UWI/Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business.
Deborah is the Managing Director of the Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF), a not-for-profit Foundation, set up in July 2020, to support the leather industry to become more sustainable. The Foundation created the A.I.M. Approach to sustainable improvement - Accessible, Inclusive and Modular and works through the innovative SLF Transparency Dashboard™, the first of its kind in the leather industry.
Deborah previously managed the Leather Working Group (LWG) from 2015 to 2020, and her experience outside the leather industry includes Project Management for companies including Sony Mobile, PlayStation, the BBC and TNT International.
Since April 2020, Deborah has also worked as the leather value chain expert for the UNECE. A practitioner member of the Chartered Quality Institute and a certified SA8000 lead auditor, Deborah is the President for the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Curriers.