Meeting for African Small Island Developing States: Ports and the energy transition

Luisa Rodriguez has been working in UNCTAD for 15 years, 7 of which on trade logistics.

She is a member of the team drafting UNCTAD’s annual review of maritime transport. Her work also covers monitoring trends and analysis regarding transport networks and corridors, ports, transport facilitation, sustainable transport and maritime transport statistics. She is also responsible for a project related to promoting Sustainable and Smart ports in Africa.

Prior to her experience in the field of trade logistics, she worked for 12 years conducting policy-oriented research, combined with capacity building in the fields of policy reform in services sectors, trade policy and trade negotiations. She also worked for 9 years for the Government of Venezuela, 4 of which as a trade negotiator to the WTO.

She is Venezuelan. She studied international relations, has an MBA in international trade and a Master’s degree in Environmental Governance and Policymaking.

Frida Youssef is the chief of the Transport Section within the Trade Logistics Branch at UNCTAD.

She has more than twenty-five years of professional experience in areas related to trade, logistics, commodities, finance, and sustainable development, which has given her the opportunity to build, lead and motivate research and technical assistance programmes, geared towards developing countries in a broad range of issues, including commodity supply chains and structured finance, public-private partnerships (PPPs), maritime transport and ports, transit transport and corridors, and cross-cutting issues such as environment, climate change, gender, finance and investment. She is a co-author of the UNCTAD's annual Review of Maritime Transport. Frida holds an MBA from Boston University and an MA in International Affairs from the Hautes Etudes Internationales - Paris.;

She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Network of Export-Import Banks and Development Finance Institutions (G-NEXID). She is also on the Steering Committee of the Port Chapter of the World Association of PPPs Units and Professionals (WAPPP).

Economist by profession, Raj MOHABEER holds, since 2000, the post of Officer in Charge at the General Secretariat of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) – an intergovernmental Organisation of the South-West Indian Ocean Island States. Prior to this period, he was working as Economist at the then Ministry of Economic Planning and Development of the Republic of Mauritius. His current portfolio includes economic cooperation, trade, regional integration and infrastructure, maritime security and blue economy – areas of interventions which spans to countries beyond IOC Member States and region. He also deals with Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) and Small Economies (SE) issues and has been working with the Pacific and Caribbean regions since he joined the IOC. In this regard, he has been involved in the work related to the SIDS, including the preparations and organisation of the United Nations International Conference on SIDS organised in Mauritius in 2005 and Samoa, as well as the one to be held in Antigua and Barbuda.

Kailash Dhunnoo has been instrumental in driving initiatives towards greening ports in Mauritius, from a Small Island Developing States perspective.

His commitment to environmental sustainability has resulted in tangible contributions to the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA), and in shaping the future of Port Louis Harbour towards becoming a Greenport.

He advocates for innovative solutions aligned with global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to promote sustainable port sector practices.

He participates in IAPH's Technical Committees and shares Mauritius' experience on clean energy transition in ports and Green Port Initiatives in forums such as the Blue Ports Initiative of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the IMO CARES.

Mr. Dhunnoo currently spearheads the UNCTAD Project on Sustainable Smart Port at Port Louis, including discussions on strategies and challenges for replicating energy transition roadmaps in Africa and the Indian Ocean SIDS.

Mr. Nelson Freire holds a degree in management from the University of Perpignan, France, as well as a Master in Port ativities management from de same universty.

He has held various managerial positions for the Enapor S.A, the Port's Authority of Cabo Islands, wich is in charge for the administration of all 9 national ports. He is an experienced executive with a long history in the port operational area, working in multinational environments, focusing on technological innovation and the effectiveness of organizations.

He was Director Port of Palmeira on Sal Island, between 2015 and 2020, prior to joining the Port of Praia, the main port of the country.

Dr Raïssa is an economist specialized on Transport matters on the African continent. She graduated from the University of Lille in France with a PhD in Industrial Economics focusing on transport policy issues and regional integration. With over a decade of experience, she has provided a number of advisory and technical assistance to the African Union member states with projects supported by reputable institutions such as UNECA, AfDB, AFD, GIZ, ITF and the EU to support Africa's economic development planning and transformation agenda. Since 2017, she is currently working as a Senior Policy Officer in charge of maritime issues at the African Union Commission, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Pierre is an infrastructure finance and transport specialist with over 10 years of experience in project financing. He spent four years as a technical advisor on PPP projects before joining AFD's office in Sri Lanka to manage the infrastructure portfolio. Now based in Nairobi, Pierre is a Task Team Leader with AFD's Transport Practice. He oversees AFD's transport sector financings in the Indian Ocean and East Africa region, including maritime transport projects in Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Reunion Island.