Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - OCTOBER 01: The ICTSD TDS Nairobi 2015 Launch as part of the WTO Public Forum held at the WTO on October 1, 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo by The Image Gate/The Image Gate for ICTSD)

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) since 1996. He was Colombia’s negotiator in several multilateral fora, acted as spokesperson for the G77 in numerous occasions and served as chair of the UN Standing Committees on Commodities and on Trade Preferences. Prior to this, he served as Principal Adviser to the Colombian Minister of Economic Development and as Chief of Administration of the Office of the President of Colombia. Since 1997, Mr. Meléndez-Ortiz has published extensively on economic governance, trade, sustainable development and conflict management issues. Mr. Meléndez-Ortiz holds a degree from Harvard.