IDEAS Associates and Staff

IDEAS Centre was created in 2002 by late Arthur Dunkel, former GATT Director-General, and by Nicolas Imboden, former Swiss Government Trade Delegate and Ambassador in charge of Swiss economic cooperation with developing countries.

IDEAS Centre is totally independent and does neither represent, nor pursue specific interests. We are strongly dedicated to contributing to the formation of a more development-friendly international trading system, one that contributes to peace, prosperity and stability for all in the world.

The Centre has a strong and dedicated team with extensive experience in trade negotiations and development assistance thus combining the trade policy and WTO knowledge with the development concern.

Nicolas IMBODEN
Executive Director

Nicolas Imboden (1946) a Swiss national, graduated in law at the University of Geneva, holds a degree in development studies from the then African Development Institute; a M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston and was an AMP student at Harvard.
 
He is partner and cofounder of IDEAS Centre. Previous he was Senior Vice President of SGS (1999-2002), a Swiss Government trade and aid official with the rank of an ambassador (1992-1999), Governor of the regional development banks (ADB, AFDB, IDB) and Executive Director at the EBRD (1992). He was the Swiss negotiator for market access and agriculture during the Uruguay Round negotiations (1987-1992). He also worked in the World Bank as an agricultural economist (1978-1982), OECD (1974-1978 as researcher on aid monitoring) and UNDP (1972-1974 as Program Officer in Chad).
 
He is currently a member of the Board of the Foundation of the "Institut Universitaire d'Etudes de Développement" (Geneva) and of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in Canada. He has been a member of various Expert Groups of the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and of the UNDP Human Development Report.

Nicolas IMBODEN, Executive Director
email: nicolas.imboden@ideascentre.ch
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Arti DASWANI-FINK
Policy Advisor

Mrs. Arti Daswani-Fink (née Arti Gobind Daswani) (1976) is a lawyer from the Universidad de Chile, admitted to practice in Chile, with a Masters in European Law (LL.M.) and studies on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and international negotiations. In Chile, she worked as a legal advisor for the Regional Government of Santiago and the Bank BBVA, while at the same time she started her own business. In 2005, she joined the WTO Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, where she worked for the Legal Affairs Division, the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation’s e-Training Unit and the Trade Policy Review Division’s Trade Facilitation Section. In her various capacities, she provided legal analysis for WTO disputes, delivered technical assistance in Guatemala and Chile, drafted and updated online courses on  Trade Facilitation, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and Technical Barriers to Trade; contributed to the coordination and management of the Trade Facilitation Needs Assessments (TFNA) Programme and facilitated the TFNAs of Ecuador, Argentina and Costa Rica. Mrs. Daswani-Fink has also been a lecturer for the Masters in Law of the Universidad de Chile Law School.

Arti Daswani-Fink, Policy Advisor
email: arti.daswani@ideascentre.ch

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Valerian KATAMADZE

Senior Policy Advisor

Mr. Valerian Katamadze (1970) graduated with honor from Kutaisi Politechnical Institute, Georgia. In 1994 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, the Department of International Economic Relations. Participated in numerous educational programs abroad on international economic and trade issues. 1998-1999 Head of Division of International Economic and Financial Organizations and cooperation with EU within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1999-2004 senior counselor of the Permanent Mission of Georgia to UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva in charge of economic issues. 2004-2006 Head of Multilateral Economic Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. 2006-2009 senior counselor of the Permanent Mission of Georgia to UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, Deputy Permanent Representative of Georgia to the WTO. From April to July 2010 he served as an international consultant for IDEAS Centre in the process of accession of the Republic of Tajikistan to the WTO. Valerian has extensive career of trade diplomat with sound theoretical knowledge and rich practical experience on the WTO accession subject. He was a permanent member of the negotiating team of Georgia in the process of its accession to the WTO; coordinator of Georgia’s WTO accession process. Member of Georgian delegation to NAMA, Agriculture and Services negotiations; one of the active co-founders of Recently Acceded Members group within the DDA negotiations. Valerian has published numerous analytical articles in Georgian newspapers and periodical journals. He is a co-author of the book: Georgia’s Path to the Multilateral Trading System. By the Decree of the President of Georgia he received official gratitude for ensuring speedy and effective accession of Georgia to the WTO.

Valerian Katamadze, Senior Policy Advisor

Email: valerian.katamadze@ideascentre.ch

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Josip PERVAN
Senior Policy Advisor

Mr. Josip Pervan (1970) holds a MA degree in business economics from the Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria. After finishing his studies he joined the Croatian Ministry of Economy where he participated in the completion of the Croatian WTO accession negotiations. Later on he moved to the Ministry of European Integration of Croatia where he worked as a part of the team which concluded the negotiations on the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between Croatia and the EU. Between 2002 and 2007 he was a trade diplomat at the Croatian Mission in Geneva responsible, among other issues, for the Croatian representation with the WTO and WIPO. As a leader of two negotiating groupings in two separate negotiating processes he was articulating and advocating specific interests of developing countries and transition economies. In WIPO, he coordinated the Regional Group of Central European and Baltic States, while in the WTO he served as a long-term leader of the Recently Acceded Members (RAMs). Josip has also published articles and analyses on issues concerning International trade in Croatian business newspapers and in the Bulletin of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce.      

Josip Pervan, Senior Policy Advisor
email: josip.pervan@ideascentre.ch

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Rina TAKEUCHI
Policy Advisor

Ms. Rina Takeuchi (1976) holds an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from L’École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales (ESSEC).  Having studied in some educational institutions in Japan, the United Kingdom and France, and subsequently having worked as a consultant for public services and governments in some major consulting firms (Arthur Andersen, KPMG consulting, and BearingPoint), she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and served as an advisor and negotiator on Trade in Services and Accessions at the Permanent Mission of Japan in Geneva to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Her work at the Japanese Mission includes some studies on developing countries in several areas such as working on the ‘modalities’ in WTO Services for Least Developed Countries from the viewpoint of  “Special and Differential Treatment”. While serving as a service delegate for the WTO, she was also in charge of bilateral accession negotiations with Bosnia, Yemen, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Belarus and Laos, and concluded services negotiations with Serbia, Montenegro, and Samoa in 2009-2010.

Rina, Takeuchi, Policy Advisor
email: rina.takeuchi@ideascentre.ch

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Natacha BOGORAD
Project Manager

Natacha Bogorad (1977): Project Manager. Graduated in international relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies of Geneva (IUHEI) in 2002. During her studies, she worked as the executive assistant to a partner of a law firm. At IDEAS Centre she has managed the cotton project and was in charge of its training component. She now manages the Geneva Trade & Development Forum (www.gtdforum.org). She also is the co-author of the chapter on trade of the “Annuaire Suisse de politique du développement” for 2004 and its author for 2005, published by the Graduate Institute of Development Studies of Geneva (IUED).

Natacha BOGORAD, Project Manager
email: natacha.bogorad@ideascentre.ch
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Laurent CHARLET

Project Manager

Laurent Charlet (1980) holds a postgraduate diploma in sustainable development from the University of Geneva (2006) where he specialized in issues related to international trade and agriculture, and a degree in International Relations from the Institute of International and Development Studies (HEID) (2002). Before joining IDEAS Centre, Laurent worked on a short term basis with UNCTAD, IATP and for a longer period with the Bern Declaration. He was able to further his experience with issues related to development in particular with trade and agriculture. With Ideas Centre, he is working for the Geneva Trade and Development Forum since June 2007.

Laurent CHARLET, Project Manager

email: laurent.charlet@ideascentre.ch

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Solange GUYE
Project Manager

Ms. Solange Guye (1979) holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (IUHEI) in Geneva in addition to a Certified Project Management Associate Diploma from the Institut suisse pour la formation des chefs d’entreprise (IFCAM) in Lausanne. Solange started her career at SOFI (Swiss Organisation for Facilitating Investments), where she was trained to become World Bank Group (WBG) Private Sector Liaison Officer. Later on she moved to SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance) as a consultant within the Governments and Institutions division which is dedicated to providing a wide range of trade facilitation and sustainable development services aimed at promoting commercial exchanges and legitimate trade. Before joining IDEAS Centre, Solange worked as a Project Officer at the Business Humanitarian Forum, a Geneva-based non-profit organisation which encourages effective cooperation between the private sector and development/humanitarian organizations. In her present position she is responsible for managing the Inwent-ASEAN project in Vietnam. She is also responsible for the Trade and Climate change initiative under the Geneva Trade and Development Forum (GTDF).

Solange Guye, Project Manager

email: solange.guye@ideascentre.ch

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Anne-Sophie NIVET
Project Manager

Anne-Sophie Nivet (1973) holds a Ph. D in Political Science from the Centre d’Etudes d’Afrique noire (Bordeaux University, France) and a masters of research in African studies. As a researcher, she worked on European development and trade policies, regional integration in West Africa and aid for trade issues. Parallel to  her research activities, she taught political science and development issues at the Institute of Political Studies (Bordeaux) and Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris). She also worked as an occasional consultant for various French institutions (Haut Conseil de la Coopération internationale, Direction générale de la Coopération internationale et du Développement, Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales).

Anne-Sophie NIVET, Project Manager
email: anne-sophie.nivet@ideascentre.ch
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Finance Manager

email: odile.eichenberger@ideascentre.ch
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Odile EICHENBERGER
Administrative Service

Odile Eichenberger , Administrative Service
email: odile.eichenberger@ideascentre.ch
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