Craig VanGrasstek, according to The Economist (January 22, 2000), “keeps a sharp eye on the politics of trade.” He has been a trade consultant since 1982, and has worked as an analyst, advisor, and trainer in over four dozen countries on five continents. Dr. VanGrasstek’s clients include government agencies, corporations, and international organizations. He received his doctorate in Politics from Princeton University in 1997, and also holds degrees in international relations from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (MSFS, 1983) and the University of Minnesota (BA, 1981). Dr. VanGrasstek has taught international relations at the American University (1994-2001), trade policy at the Harvard Kennedy School (2000-present), and literature at Georgetown University (2006-2009). He wrote the official history of the World Trade Organization (2013), and in 2019 Cambridge University Press published his book on Trade and American Leadership: The Paradoxes of Power and Wealth from Alexander Hamilton to Donald Trump.

Stefania Vannuccini is the Senior Fishery Officer responsible for fisheries and aquaculture statistics (FishStat) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

She is also Secretary of the Coordinating Working Party on Fishery Statistics (CWP), premier international and interorganizational forum for agreeing common definitions, classifications and standards for the collection of fishery and aquaculture statistics.

An economist, with specialization in statistics, she has several decades of expertise in the analysis of current and future trends of the fisheries and aquaculture sector and its contribution to food security, with several publications, articles and presentations produced. She is one of the main authors of the biannual FAO State of Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), coordinating Part 1 of SOFIA 2024.

She is also responsible for the fish projections and chapter annually included in the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook and of other outlook studies.

Philippe Varin was elected Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce in June 2024 after having served on the executive board since 2018.

He served as Group Executive Vice President for Aluminum at Pechiney before becoming CEO of Corus in 2003, overseeing its acquisition by Tata in 2007.

Mr Varin chaired PSA Peugeot Citroen from 2009 to 2014 and, subsequently, Areva and Orano until 2020. He led France Industrie and the Conseil National de l’Industrie from 2017 to 2021, chaired Suez from 2020 to 2022, and has co-chaired the World Materials Forum since 2015.

Mr Varin is an operating partner of the GVP Climate Investment Fund. He also chairs the C’Possible partnership to enhance vocational education opportunities in France.

Mr Varin graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines de Paris and holds honors in France and the UK.

Halia Zarina António Varinda has worked in the Department of Industrial Policy, Planning and Development. Her professional career, spanning over 15 years, has been shaped by industrial competitiveness, the implementation of industrial policy and strategy in general, but more specifically in the areas of quality infrastructure (conformity assessment, verifying that products, processes and systems comply with standards and regulations through: certifications, inspections, tests, supplier declarations and labeling). She has also worked in industrial policy, modernizing production processes at the national level, promoting actions that lead to increased efficiency and competitiveness in industrial activity, and monitoring the progress and implementation of major projects related to the sector, with a special focus on the manufacturing industry. 

She is passionate about Industrial Development. Throughout her career, she has distinguished herself in various sectors related to Industrial Policy and Development, including: technical specialist in supporting SMEs involved in agro-industrial activities through rapid interventions aimed at enabling them to export and compete in the EU market, also with the objective of promoting industrial research and development for economic diversification; technical specialist in quality infrastructure for the development of Africa; technical member in the drafting of technical standards and regulations for industrial production processes; technical member of the National Program for bio-fortification and industrial fortification of foods with micronutrients, with a view to contributing to food and nutritional security; technical member of the Codex Alimentarius and periodic scheduled inspection of production processes in industries mainly linked to agro-processing.

Halia maintains a daily focus on the development needs of Mozambican industry and is extensively involved in various initiatives with the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the national metrology institute of Germany, with whom she is still working today in the area of quality infrastructure for Africa, and particularly in the SADC region. She holds a Master's degree in Business Management and Business Communication and a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Engineering.
 

Managing Director of the International Ocean Institute, member of the IOI Governing Board, responsible for the IOI Secretariat, and the coordination and expansion of IOI training and education efforts in Ocean Governance, in line with IOI strategy. IOI training events are offered through the global network of IOI Centres, Focal Points and Alumni graduands of IOI’s training programmes since 1972. A recent IOI capacity development project, launched as a 50th Anniversary programme, is the global IOI Ocean Academy that extends IOI capacity development focus to include online Ocean Literacy programmes with focus on community outreach.

DIPLOMAS: Public Accountant and Auditor Universidad Gabriela Mistral Master in IFRS Escuela de Gestión Europea Master in Financial Management and Tax Management IEDE Business School Universidad Andrés Bello WORK EXPERIENCE: He is currently an independent auditor accountant with activities in: - Tax advice - Implementation in IFRS - Financial and tax audits - Professor in taxation and IFRS. Former comptroller manager in Compañía Agropecuaria Copeval S.A., Public Limited Company, which must report its financial statements to the SVS, Superintendency of Securities and Insurance. He has worked additionally in Coagra S.A., Sone S.A., Focura S.A., Activa Consultores Internacionales Ltda. and Universidad Gabriela Mistral. PROJECTS: Planning and implementation of IFRS at the Universidad del Bio-Bio Planning and implementation of IFRS in the COPEVAL S.A. IFRS diagnosis project in PRODELCO LTDA, Construction Company, and several other implementations. TEACHING: Full time professor in Universidad de Santiago de Chile GUILD ACTIVITIES Current President of the Chilean Accountant’s Association Alternate Director of the Latin American Group of Financial Information Standards Issuers.

Jean-Jacques Verdeaux joined the World Bank Group in 2002 as Senior Procurement Specialist in the Africa region and has held various positions including Senior Counsel in the Legal procurement group, Procurement Coordinator for the Andean Countries, Lead Procurement Specialist for the Middle East and Northern Africa. Previously, he was the Senior Procurement Adviser for the Energy Department at the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg.

He is currently Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean where he leads a team of 40+ World Bank procurement specialists who supervise operations in 32 countries.  The portfolio includes operations in critical infrastructure, education, environment, health, including the procurement of vaccines during the pandemic.
 
The unit also engages in a dialogue with Borrowers on how to increase the efficiency of their procurement systems in a time of high inflation and need for climate action.
Admitted to the Paris Bar, Jean-Jacques is also a lecturer in international procurement operations and law.

Thomas Verheye is Principal Advisor at the European Commission's Directorate General for the Environment on matters relating to sustainable finance and investment. He advises the Director General and senior managers on strategic directions and actions necessary for promoting greening the financial system and the economy. His prior positions include several other managerial responsibilities at the Commission including for EU policies on air quality, ozone depleting substances and fluorinated gases, innovative financing solutions relating to climate and energy, technology transfer under the UNFCC, the auto-oil programme, etc. Previous employers include the Bank of New York (VP corporate action at the bank's global custody branch), the International Monetary Fund (Treasurer's department), and Ernst & Young (Audit). He holds a bachelor and master's degree in business economics from the University of Ghent, and an MSc in audit and tax from the Vlerick Business School. Last updated: August, 2019

Rupal Verma served as a Consultant at United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and secretariat advisor for the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS).

Rupal is an active researcher in the fields of sustainability standards, international trade, and value chains, with a special focus on their profound implications for developing nations. Her research contributions, in particular with her work at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, include extensive studies on sustainability standards, their alignment with SDGs, and their potential impact on developing economies.

Originally from India, she has served as an analyst with the Quality Council of India where she led the work on India National Platform on Sustainability Standards. Rupal holds an Erasmus Mundus master's degree, majoring in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.

Mathieu Verougstraete is a development finance expert with more than 15 years of experience in financing the private sector and infrastructure development, across many developing regions (Central, South and South-East Asia, Northern Africa, Europe, Eastern Europe, The Pacific). He currently advises government on ways to reorient private finance flows towards more sustainable investments and conducts research on standards/labels for sustainable financial products and impact measurement of ESG/sustainable investing. He leads the related chapter of the UN flagship report on “Financing for Sustainable Development” produced by an Inter-Agency Task Force to which almost 60 agencies contribute, including the five major stakeholders (UNCTAD, UNDP, World Bank Group, IMF and UNDP). This report provides concrete recommendations for member states consideration at the annual ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development. He previously supported governments in Asia and the Pacific in implementing measures to efficiently involve the private sector in infrastructure development (for instance by developing training materials for capacity building, providing policy advocacy and conducting PPP readiness assessments). Mathieu Verougstraete has a large experience in banking and infrastructure financing. Prior to joining the United Nations, Mathieu Verougstraete worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Commission (EC) and a private finance institution (ING Bank). He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Engineering from UCL (Louvain) and an Advanced Master’s Degree in Economics from ULB (Brussels).