Webinar on Launch of the Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Report 2021: supply chain resilience and trade facilitation amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Before joining ESCAP, Ms. Alisjahbana was Professor of Economics at Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia, served as Director for the Center for Sustainable Development Goals Studies. She was also Minister of National Development Planning and the Head of the National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS), Indonesia.

Dr. Bambang Susantono is the Vice-President of Asian Development Bank’s Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development. He is a distinguished thought leader on sustainable development, published author and active researcher. He has also taught at several universities and leading research institutes. He holds a PhD in Infrastructure Planning, as well as Master’s degrees in Transportation Engineering, and City and Regional Planning from the University of California Berkeley. Prior to this, Dr. Bambang was a former Vice-Minister of Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation and Deputy Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Mr. John W.H. Denton AO is the Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce(ICC). He is a global business leader and international advisor on policy and a legal expert on international trade and investment.

He is also a Board member of the United Nations Global Compact and Co-chair of the B20 finance and infrastructure taskforce, as well as a founding member of the Business 20 (B20), the Australia–China CEO Roundtable and UNHCR in Australia.

Mr. Denton serves on the Board of leading global infrastructure group IFM Investors. Mr. Denton is also the Chair of the Asia Pacific advisory Board of Veracity, a global advisory group based in NYC and Chair of the Moeller Institute advisory board at Cambridge University.

He co-led the Australian Government’s 2012 White Paper on “Australia in the Asian Century” and previously chaired the APEC Finance and Economics Working Group.

A former diplomat, Mr. Denton served for two decades as Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Australia’s leading independent law firm.

In 2015, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to the business community, the arts and the rights of refugees, including as a founder of Human Rights Watch (Australia) and Teach for Australia.

Mr. Denton is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and the University of Melbourne.

Mr. Yann Duval is currently Chief of Trade Policy and Facilitation at ESCAP, the regional branch of the United Nations Secretariat for Asia and the Pacific.

Over the past 15 years, Mr. Duval has conducted research and delivered technical assistance and advisory services on trade policy and facilitation throughout Asia and the Pacific, including on the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. He spearheaded the development of the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), as well as the creation of the ESCAP-World Bank Trade Cost Database and the UN Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation. Mr. Duval was also instrumental in the development of the United Nations Network of Experts for Paperless Trade and Transport in Asia and the Pacific (UNNExT) and the negotiation of a new intergovernmental Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific, adopted as a UN treaty in 2016.

Prior to joining the UN, He held faculty positions at the Asian Institute of Technology and Washington State University, USA.

Mr. Kijin KIM is Economist in the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, Asian Development Bank. Since he joined the ADB in 2017, he has been working on trade, trade facilitation, and trade finance within the context of regional cooperation and integration (RCI). He contributed to ADB’s publications on these areas including the Asian Economic Integration Report, Trade Finance Gaps, Growth, and Jobs Survey, and Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Report.

Before joining the ADB, he was a research fellow of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois since 2012. From 2004 to 2010, he worked as Economist at the Bank of Korea. He earned his PhD in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2016, focusing on research within the fields of regional economics and applied econometrics, centered on the role of labor markets, the effects of heterogeneity in consumption spending and labor market participation on regional economies.

Ms. Cyn-Young Park is Director of the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division in the Economics Research and Regional Cooperation Department of the Asian Development Bank. She manages a team of economists to examine economic and policy issues related to regional cooperation and integration (RCI). During her career within ADB, she has been a main author and contributor to ADB’s major publications.

Prior to joining the ADB, she served as Economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University. She holds a bachelor degree in International Economics from Seoul National University.

Mr. Pranab Kumar Das is the Director of the Compliance and Facilitation Directorate of the World Customs Organization.

Mr. Das has rich experience of over 36 years in customs and indirect tax administration having worked in various positions in the frontline offices and specialized directorates of Customs and Indirect Taxes in India and finally as the Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs under the Government of India. As Chairman he was entrusted with the task of administration of Customs, Goods & Services Tax and Central Excise Duty and led a team of over 85,000 officers and staff spread across the country.

Mr. Das’ deep commitment to customs reforms has seen India’s World Bank Ranking under the pillar of “trading across borders” improve from 146 in 2017 to 68 in 2019 and overall EODB rankings from 100 in 2017 to 63 in 2019.

Apart from the initiatives taken for India, Mr. Das has supported initiatives for easing the traffic in transit of India’s land-linked neighbours which has led to significant reduction in dwell time and cost. He has spearheaded major trade facilitation and customs modernization initiatives in India such as the Single Window, AEO program, MRAs with key trade partners, paperless processes, strengthening Customs laboratories and off-border clearances through land borders by leveraging track and trace technology. 

Mr. Das holds a Master’s degree in economics and a degree in law apart from a masters in philosophy on, “GST and its role on economic security”. He is also the recipient of the President of India’s Award for ‘Specially Distinguished Record of Service’.

Mr. Paul Molinaro has more than 25 years of experience managing international emergency response operations. In his current role, he directs and manages WHO’s global operations for the procurement, allocation and delivery of critical healthcare supplies worldwide for the COVID-19 response. He also coordinated WHO logistics support operations during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Prior to joining WHO in 2018, Paul was the Supply and Logistics Chief in the UNICEF Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa. Other roles within the UNICEF Supply Division included projects within the Emergency Department and subsequently with the Change Management Unit as project lead to transform the global supply function.

Paul’s professional experience includes earlier assignments with emergency supply and logistics operations in various parts of the world with UNICEF, UNHCR and CARE International.

Paul holds a master’s degree in Defence Logistics Management from Cranfield University in the UK.

Ms. Rupa Chanda is the Director of Trade, Investment and Innovation. Prior to that, she was a Professor of Economics at IIM Bangalore and the Dean of Programmes at the institute. She has worked as an Economist at the IMF and briefly served as Head, UNESCAP Subregional Office for South and South-West Asia in New Delhi. Prof. Chanda received her PhD in Economics from Columbia University and her Bachelor’s from Harvard University. She teaches Macroeconomics and International Trade and has received teaching awards. Her research interests include the WTO, trade in services, regional integration and migration. She has undertaken research and professional assignments for international and Indian organizations and has published extensively in the form of books, journal articles, book chapters, and reports. She is active professionally as a research guide, reviewer, and member of several expert committees. She was member of the WHO’s Review Committee on the functioning of the International Health Regulations (2015-16) and  the WHO’s Expert Advisory Group, International Recruitment of Health Personnel (2019-20).

Mr. Desmond Tay is the CEO of vCargo Cloud and GUUD, a group of trade technology companies headquartered in Singapore, with offices in Indonesia, China and Kenya. A leader in the space of trade technology, he has spoken at many international forums on trade issue, and together with his capable team, he has successfully implemented technology projects across various countries in partnership with their governments including a National Single Window and Maritime Single Window in Cambodia, digital logistics platform in Indonesia, as well as a Regional Single Window for East African Community countries. For his dedication and his commitment to creating technology that benefits economies and businesses, he recently received the Regional Champion, ASEAN Entrepreneur Award 2021 during the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, South Korea.