Secretariat

The Secretariat, headed by an Executive Director, is responsible for the work and output of the South Centre under the direction and guidance of the Chairperson and the Board. It is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

CORREA Carlos M., Executive Director

director(at)southcentre.int

Dr. Carlos M. CORREA is the Executive Director of the South Centre. Previously, he was the Special Advisor on Trade and Intellectual Property of the South Centre. Dr. Correa is a renowned international authority on intellectual property, international trade, plant biodiversity and technology issues. Dr. Correa has worked with the Argentine government and has been the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies on Industrial Property and Economics (CEIDIE) at the Law Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires. He has been a member of the Scientific Council of the Deutsch-Argentinisches Hochschulzentrum (DAHZ-CUAA), of the UK Commission on Intellectual Property, of international expert commissions convened by the World Health Organization and of the FAO Panel of Eminent Experts on Ethics in Food and Agriculture. He has been a visiting professor in post-graduate courses of several universities, as well as consultant to various regional and international organizations, including FAO, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNIDO and the World Bank. He is the author of several books (the most recent published by Oxford University Press, Kluwer Law and Edward Elgar) and of numerous articles. He is a lawyer and economist and holds a PhD in Law from the University of Buenos Aires.

 

VELÁSQUEZ Germán, Special Adviser, Policy and Health

velasquez(at)southcentre.int

Dr. Germán VELÁSQUEZ is the Special Adviser on Policy and Health of the South Centre. He is the former World Health Organization (WHO) Director of the department on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property. He is the President of the University Chair ‘Right to health and access to medicines’ at the Complutense University of Madrid. He is the author of numerous publications on health economics and intellectual property and access to medicines. Dr. Velásquez has a Master’s in Economics and a PhD in Health Economics from the Sorbonne University, Paris, a PhD Honoris Causa on Public Health from the University of Caldas, Colombia and a PhD Honoris Causa from the School of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid.

 

LI  Yuefen, Senior Adviser, South-South Cooperation and Development Finance

li(at)southcentre.int

Ms. Yuefen LI is the Senior Adviser on South-South Cooperation and Development Finance of the South Centre. She was Head of the Debt and Development Finance Branch of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) where she worked for 24 years. She used to teach in the University of International Business and Economics in China. She has published on various issues including development finance, the Chinese economy, international trade and development strategies. Ms. Li got her Master’s degree in the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird) and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Beijing Foreign Studies University in China, and she was also a visiting scholar in the London School of Economics (LSE).

 

CHOWDHARY Abdul Muheet, Senior Programme Officer

chowdhary(at)southcentre.int

Mr. Abdul Muheet CHOWDHARY is Senior Programme Officer of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change (SDCC) Programme of the South Centre. He leads the South Centre Tax Initiative (SCTI) which is a part of the SDCC Programme. He is a Member of the United Nations Tax Committee’s Subcommittee on Wealth and Solidarity Taxes, a member of the BEPS Monitoring Group and is on the Steering Group of the Independent Commission for Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT). Previously, he served in India’s Ministry of External Affairs where he was in the Policy Planning and Research Division specialising in economic strategy. He was formerly a consultant to the United Nations and also worked as a legislative aide in the Parliament of India, specialising in tax and financial law. He has a Master’s in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, a Diploma in International Trade Law from the Indian Academy of International Law & Diplomacy and a certification in International Taxation.

 

Danish, Programme Officer

danish(at)southcentre.int

Mr. Danish is Programme Officer of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change (SDCC) Programme of the South Centre. Previously, he worked as a legal associate in a boutique investment law firm based out of Barcelona, Spain. He is a lawyer from India where he obtained a B.A. LL.B. (Honours) degree from the National University of Advanced Legal Studies and a Diploma in International Trade and Business Law from the Indian Academy of International Law & Diplomacy. He also holds a LL.M. in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.

 

IDO Vitor, Programme Officer

ido(at)southcentre.int

Dr. Vitor Henrique PINTO IDO is Programme Officer of the Health, Intellectual Property and Biodiversity (HIPB) Programme of the South Centre. Dr. Ido is a trained lawyer and anthropologist who worked in both the private and public sectors prior to joining the South Centre. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, where he is an affiliated researcher to the Law and Poverty Research Group, and a research master´s degree in Human Rights (2017) from the same university, where he was a Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellow. He also holds a bachelor in Law (2014) and a bachelor in Social Sciences (2018) from the same institution. His research focuses on the intersection between intellectual property rights and development, with a focus on indigenous peoples´ traditional knowledge, access to medicines and innovation and technology policies in the Global South.

 

LUNENBORG Peter, Senior Programme Officer

lunenborg(at)southcentre.int

Mr. Peter LUNENBORG is Senior Programme Officer of the Trade for Development Programme (TDP) of the South Centre. He provides policy analysis and advice on trade policies to developing countries and developing country groupings in Geneva as well as to capitals. He closely follows the various negotiations and discussions at the World Trade Organization (WTO), and has worked on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Before joining the South Centre, he was a manager at Maersk. He has published, inter alia, in the Ashgate Research Companion to International Trade Policy and the Global Trade and Customs Journal. He has an LLM and MSc in Economics from the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

 

MUÑOZ TELLEZ Viviana, Programme Coordinator

munoz(at)southcentre.int

Dr. Viviana MUÑOZ TELLEZ is the Programme Coordinator of the Health, Intellectual Property and Biodiversity (HIPB) Programme of the South Centre. As of 2006, Dr. Munoz leads the team providing policy-oriented research, expert advice and technical assistance activities to developing countries and institutions on health, intellectual property and biodiversity and their broader link to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and digital transformation. She holds a Doctorate degree on management of technology from the École Polytechnique of Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland – having focused on models of R&D collaboration to deliver affordable biomedical innovations addressing the disease burden in developing countries, and a Master’s degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics (LSE).

 

NAIDU Vahini, Programme Coordinator

naidu(at)southcentre.int

Ms. Vahini NAIDU is the Programme Coordinator of the Trade for Development Programme (TDP) of the South Centre. Prior to joining the South Centre, she was an international trade negotiator for the Department of Trade and Industry in South Africa covering regional and multilateral trade negotiations. Her trade negotiating areas include trade in services, e-commerce and the digital economy, development and Special and Differential Treatment, Domestic Regulation and Rules of Origin in Services. She was a diplomat at the South African Permanent Mission to the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland. She holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Master of Commerce Degree from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business.

 

SYAM Nirmalya, Senior Programme Officer

syam(at)southcentre.int

Mr. Nirmalya SYAM is Senior Programme Officer of the Health, Intellectual Property and Biodiversity (HIPB) Programme of the South Centre. Prior to joining the South Centre, he served as a researcher at the Centre for Trade and Development in New Delhi where he undertook research and advocacy on intellectual property rights, trade and public health issues in India. He was a visiting Fox International Fellow at the Betty and Whitney MacMillan Centre for International and Area Studies at Yale University in 2006-07 where he researched on participation of developing countries in decision making in international financial institutions from the perspective of the emerging body of global administrative law and the Third World approach to international law. He has also served as an Advocate at the High Court in Calcutta, India. He holds a bachelor’s degree in law (LL.B) from the University of Calcutta and a master’s degree (M.Phil.) in international law from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

 

URIBE Daniel, Lead Programme Officer

uribe(at)southcentre.int

Mr. Daniel URIBE is Lead Programme Officer of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change (SDCC) Programme of the South Centre. Mr. Uribe has been extensively engaged in the research of the implications of International Investment Agreements in sustainable development for developing countries, and on the issues of business and human rights; he has also conducted research on how South-South and Triangular Cooperation could support developing countries’ efforts in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. He has supported and advised governments and civil society organizations in negotiations in international forums in line with the mandate of the South Centre and participated as panelist and trainer in several workshops and international meetings. Mr. Uribe is a lawyer from Ecuador where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws LL.B. from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador and holds a Master’s Degree (LL.M.) in International Law (Cum Laude) from the Graduate Institute of Geneva. During his thirteen years of professional career, Mr. Uribe has earned experience working for the Republic of Ecuador, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society institutions. This has allowed him to understand public policy concerns from diverse perspectives, as an advantage to forge strategic synergies to achieve common objectives towards sustainable development and international cooperation.

 

FINANCE, HUMAN RESOURCES & ADMINISTRATION

 

BERNARDO Anna, Editorial Assistant (Communications)

abernardo(at)southcentre.int

 

CUI Xin, Secretary (Executive Director’s Office)

cui(at)southcentre.int

 

NGOME ENEME Caroline, Programme Administrator (HIPB)

ngomeeneme(at)southcentre.int

 

PACHAURI Nakshatra,  Head of Finance and Administration

pachauri(at)southcentre.int

 

QUANSAH Emmanuel Kwame, Finance and Administrative Assistant (TDP)

quansah(at)southcentre.int

 

SCHWANK Cecilia, Finance and Administration Officer

schwank(at)southcentre.int

 

VASANTHAN, Achuthan, Administrative Assistant

avasanthan(at)southcentre.int

 

 

South Centre Organizational Chart

South Centre Experts Short Biographies

 

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