Moderator
Mr. Rajesh Aggarwal
Rajesh Aggarwal is Officer-in-charge of the Business & Trade Policy Section of the International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva. He is leading a programme of assisting the private sector in developing countries to be the change agent for trade policy reform and engage in business advocacy with their governments in design and implementation of trade policies and negotiating positions that reflect the business interests. Before joining the ITC, he worked for the Indian Government and participated in WTO Doha Round of trade negotiations. He has published papers in the area of trade negotiations including a paper titled ‘Dynamics of Agriculture Negotiations in WTO’ in the Journal of World Trade.
Presenters
Dr. Rajan Sudesh Ratna
Dr. Rajan Sudesh Ratna is presently working as Deputy Head of South and South-West Office of UN ESCAP, New Delhi since August 2018 and leading research, policy advisory and capacity building on helping countries accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. He has led the capacity building programme of training more than 3000 women entrepreneurs from Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of South and South-West Asia for using digital marketing and e-commerce platforms for promoting their business and becoming part of national, regional and global supply chains.
Dr. Tanu M. Goyal
Dr. Tanu M. Goyal is a Senior Fellow at ICRIER. She has more than 15 years of experience in policy-oriented research. Over the last few years, she has worked extensively on diverse set of issues relevant to India’s domestic and international policy discourse, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), G20 and architectural elements of free trade agreements. She has authored several research papers, reports, and articles in leading newspapers on these subjects. She has co-authored a book on India’s special economic zones, published by Springer and co-edited a book on India-European Union free trade agreement, published by Sage Publications. Tanu has a Masters in Economics from Centre for International Trade and Development, and a PhD from Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Panelists
Mr. Santosh Kumar Sarangi
Mr Santosh Kumar Sarangi is a 1994 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Odisha cadre. He holds Degree in Master of Arts (Political Science) from the University of Delhi and Master in Public Policy from the Duke University, USA. Mr. Santosh Kumar Sarangi has over 35 years of experience working in various capacities in the State and Central Government. His key focus areas include boosting India's exports, enhancing trade relations with other countries, promoting and diversifying the export basket, matters related to WTO etc. He has previously served as the Additional Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education. Further he has also served as Chairman of Paradip Port Trust from August 2020 to June 2022.
Dr. Pritam Banerjee
Pritam Banerjee brings several years of experience in the areas of logistics operations, trade facilitation, and trade policy. He currently Heads the Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and previously was a Consultant with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as a Logistics Sector Specialist. Prior to his work with the ADB, Banerjee was Senior Director for Public Policy with the Deutsche Post DHL Group, responsible for South Asia. In this capacity, he was responsible for engaging with governments and governmental agencies on regulatory affairs and policy. He also served as a consultant for major clients of Deutsche Post DHL Group, finding solutions to regulatory and policy problems related to their supply chains. Banerjee previously served as the Head of Trade Policy, Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Trade Policy Division, and with the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where his work focused trade facilitation and trade in services.
Dr. Devi Ariyani
Dr Devi Ariyani is the Executive Director of Indonesia Services Dialogue (ISD) Council, an independent council that focuses on policy and regulatory reforms for the development of services sectors in Indonesia and promotes a tripartite dialogue between government, private sectors and research institutions. Ms Ariyani has spent most of her career in service industries, starting from manufacturing, to marketing, retail, distribution and business consulting services. Prior to joining Indonesia Services Dialogue Council, Ms Ariyani assumed her role as Managing Partner of Dash Consulting, a Brand, Retail and Management Consulting firm for Consumer goods, Automotive, Pharmaceutical and Financial sectors.
Dr. Harsha Vardhana Singh
Harsha Vardhana Singh is a Senior Research Affiliate at BASC and the Chairman of IKDHVAJ Advisers LLP, a consulting firm working on trade policy, industrial policy and regulatory issues. He has over three decades of policy expertise. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Fletcher School Council on Emerging Market Enterprises, a member of the Advisory Board of UNCTAD’s Transnational Corporations Journal, and member of the International Trade Policy Council of with the Confederation of Indian Industries. Dr. Singh previously worked at the GATT/WTO for 20 years, served as the Secretary Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the Executive Director of Brookings India, was the Chair of GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement Panels, a Senior Fellow at think tanks in Switzerland and Canada, and taught at universities in the US and China.
Mrs. K. Ratna Prabha
Mrs K Ratna Prabha is a 1981 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Karnataka cadre. Through her years of service, has gained immense and varied experience in various sectors of government, especially IT, Industry & Commerce, Skill Development and Women Entrepreneurship. As Information Technology Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, she framed the Andhra Pradesh IT Policy 2005 of 2005 and 2010, which were instrumental in attracting several MNC’s and IT majors to invest in Hyderabad. Her IT Policy paved the roadmap for women-centric initiatives such as women's safety in the workplace and transport and maternity benefits to women in the IT sector.
