Side Event at 78th Session of the Commission: Transforming Asia-Pacific trade and transport agreements and other initiatives to future proof supply chain connectivity in Asia and the Pacific

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. Abdulla Khashimov has an extensive working experience with the Ministries of Transport, Foreign Affairs, Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan, focusing on the problems of the development of the national and international transport system. He also chaired the National Committee of Uzbekistan for the development of the Trans-Caucasian Transport Corridors and the Transport sector of the SCO Secretariat (Beijing, China).

Mr. Beny Irzanto works as Senior Officer of Transport Division, Sectoral Development Directorate, ASEAN Economic Community Department.  He will share information on COVID-19 Response and Recovery Guidelines for Resilient and Sustainable International Road Freight Transport Connectivity in ASEAN, designed to support ASEAN Member States in establishing their regional and national transport connectivity recovery plans with a focus on resilience and sustainability.

Iranian railways will share their experience in leveraging international transport agreements, including the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railways, and other multilateral initiatives to gain greater resilience in land transport connectivity.

Ms. Chelliah has been a negotiator for Singapore since 2002, and was involved negotiations for Singapore FTAs with EFTA, China, Korea, EU, Chinese Taipei, Peru, Japan as well as ASEAN-China FTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Ms. Epps has more than 18 years' experience as an academic, legal advisor and negotiator; including seven years as a senior advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) Trade Law Unit. During this time, she acted as the lead legal counsel for New Zealand’s negotiating team in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.