Trade House event at COP28: Harnessing services trade for the energy transition

Miho Shirotori is the Acting Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities (DITC) of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Miho also leads a team of experts that assess how trade agreements, trade in services, and the creative economy contribute to inclusive and sustainable economic diversification.

Her expertise includes “equitable” trade in agriculture for least developed countries, low-income countries, and net food-importing developing countries.

Miho represents UNCTAD in global conferences and various inter-agency activities, including the UN inter-agency task force that monitors the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Plan for the Financing for Development.

Aik Hoe Lim is Director of the Trade and Environment Division at the World Trade Organization and leads its work on environmental sustainability, climate change and trade, as well as on the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. In this role, he has strengthened WTO's partnership with UNEP as well as other international environmental organizations. He led the establishment of WTO's Trade and Environment Week, which is now an annual flagship event for the organization. He joined the WTO in 1999 and served in the External Relations Division, the Director-General's Cabinet and the Trade in Services Division. He was previously Counsellor to two WTO Director-Generals, Advisor to the Director‑General's Consultative Group, and Secretary to WTO committees, working groups and negotiating bodies on services trade and domestic regulation. He represents the WTO in the UN Environmental Management Group and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the UNEP Global Environmental Outlook.  Some of his publications include contributions to the "Research Handbook on Climate Change and Trade Law" (2017); "Win-Win: How International Trade Can Help Meet the Sustainable Development Goals" (2017); and an edited volume on "WTO Domestic Regulation and Services Trade" (2014).

Secretary for International Affairs - State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Former Secretary for Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economy of Brazil and Brazil's senior director for the New Development Bank (NDB) and for the Latin American Development Bank (CAF).

He served as Brazil's alternate governor for the Inter-American Development Bank and for FONPLATA Development Bank. Held positions as senior advisor to the World Bank, UNCTAD, the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil and the International Chamber of Commerce. Graduated in Chemical Engineer, holds a doctorate in economics from Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo and is one of the coordinators of the Brazilian Chair at the World Trade Organization.

Ms. Trudi Hartzenberg is the Executive Director of tralac (Trade Law Centre) based in the Western Cape region of South Africa.

Her research is in the areas of international trade, competition policy, industrial development and Africa's integration agenda. She currently serves on the WTO Chairs Advisory Committee and is a member of the Committee for Development Policy of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Bernardo Busel Niedmann serves as a Special Advisor of the Danish Energy Agency. He has been working as specialist in regulation of renewable energy in government-to-government programs with Colombia, Brazil, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Türkiye, South Korea and Chile.

Before joining the Danish Energy Agency in 2021, he was a partner in a law firm in Santiago de Chile, where he specialized in energy law working with clients from more than twenty countries, focusing his practice in litigation and transactional advice in the energy sector. He has been ranked by Legal 500 and Best Lawyers® as a leading practitioner in the energy law field.

Bernardo Busel Niedmann holds an Advanced Master of Laws (Energy Law) from the Universities of Copenhagen, Groningen, Aberdeen and Oslo and an LL.B. degree from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez.

Mr. Abdelmuti Ahmed Murad, Head, Energy Strategies and Policies Division, Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, United Arab Emirates