UK-Nordic conference on digital trade

Speakers

Christopher Charles Barton, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe at the Department for Business and Trade, UK

Chris Barton is His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe, with responsibility for encouraging trade and investment between UK and other European countries as well as Israel. Chris Barton has been HM Trade Commissioner for Europe since summer 2021.

He joined the UK civil service in 1998, after 5 years as an economics teacher. Over this period, he has worked in a wide range of domestic and international-facing roles in departments for business, energy, trade, Foreign Office and No10.

His trade-focused roles have included Director UK’s Trade Policy (2013-2016), Multilateral & EU Trade (2016-2019), Bilateral Trade Relations (2019-20), UK-EU Trade negotiations (2020-21), HMTC Europe (2021-present).

Ayesha Ali, Deputy Director for Digital and Telecoms Trade Policy at the Department for Business and Trade, UK

Ayesha is the Deputy Director for Digital and Telecoms Trade Policy in the Department for Business and Trade.

She leads on digital trade policy for the UK in bilateral and multilateral agreements and with international organisations including the WTO and UNCTAD.

Ayesha is an economist by training with more than 10 years’ experience in the UK Government Economic Service.

Emma Sävenborg, Senior Adviser at the National Board of Trade Sweden

Emma Sävenborg is a Senior Adviser at the National Board of Trade Sweden where she is responsible for digital trade and services trade.

She provides analytical support to the Swedish government in different digital trade issues and has recently written a report on the e-commerce negotiations in the WTO and the development perspective.

Previously, Emma worked with EU FTA negotiations and coordinated the Boards work on trade negotiations between the EU and the UK.

Before joining the Board, she worked in Brussels both in Public Affairs and in the European Parliament.

Emma holds a MSc in Political Economy from the London School of Economics and BSc in Political Science from Uppsala University.

Minako Morita-Jaeger, Senior Research Fellow in International Trade at the University of Sussex Business School

Dr Minako Morita-Jaeger is an international trade policy expert with broad experiences across the globe.

Prior to her work in academia, she worked in practice as an economic affairs officer at the UNCTAD; WTO services trade negotiator at the Japanese Delegation to the WTO; and a principal trade policy analyst at the Japan Business Federation.

Her areas of expertise include: FTAs; WTO; services and digital trade; UK trade policy; and Asia-Pacific trade policy.

She holds a PhD in International Relations from the LSE; an MA in European Economic Studies from the College d’Europe; and an MA in International Law and Economics from the World Trade Institute.

Mr Yih-Jeou Wang, Senior Adviser at the Danish Ministry of Digital Government and Gender Equality

Mr Yih-Jeou Wang has been Senior Adviser in the Danish Ministry of Digital Government and Gender Equality since March 2023.

He has previously been responsible for international affairs in the Danish Agency for Digital Government (as part of the Danish Ministry of Finance) since 2011.

He has been Counsellor (cyber policy and digitisation) at the Danish Permanent Representation to the European Union, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, in the period 2019-2022.

He returned to Danish civil service in 2010 after five years as Head of Unit in the OECD leading OECD’s activities in the area of digital government.

He joined the OECD in 2005 from a position as Head of Division in the former Danish National IT and Telecom Agency responsible for national and international ICT security policy.

He has for a period of more than 20 years been responsible for policy and strategy development of Information Society and e-government in different ministries (Finance, Education and Research, and Science, Technology, and Innovation), and has in a short period worked as a senior adviser in the Confederation of Danish Industries responsible for the development of e-business policies and strategies for Danish industry.

He has for more than 20 years been an external examiner at the IT University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen Business School.

Fredrik Syversen, Director of Strategy and Business Development at IKT-Norge /ICT Norway

Fredrik Syversen serves as the Director of Strategy and Business Development at ICT-Norway, with a background in the intersection of business and politics.

Fredrik is responsible for ICT-Norway’s international efforts and collaboration with industry on development projects, together with Innovation Norway, the EU, and other innovation champions. Fredrik also works closely with start-ups and scaling of data centres.

ICT-Norway is an independent membership organisation for the digital industry, including larger corporations and SMEs, and plays a key role in supporting businesses with navigating the complex and shifting digital landscape.