Location: Virtual event - MS Teams
Date: Wednesday 2 March 2022
Time: 9:00am - 10:00am GMT
International digital trade is a significant driver of productivity and business growth in the UK. To keep digital markets open and minimise barriers to digital trade, the UK is already building a network of international agreements alongside partners across the region.
As the global architecture that governs digital trade continues to develop, the FCDO has asked the Asia Trade Centre and LSE Consulting’s Trade Policy Hub to develop the evidence base to engage partners in the region in discussions about how the UK can further strengthen its digital trade relationship with countries across the Indo-Pacific. This is an important element of UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt and UK’s ambition to be the European partner with the broadest and most integrated presence in the region.
This exclusive roundtable aims to validate the team’s findings on what the UK’s priorities in the Indo-Pacific ought to be.
Moderator
Dr Elitsa Garnizova
Dr Elitsa Garnizova is the Founder and Director of LSE Consulting’s Trade Policy Hub (TPH). She leads on trade-related policy research, impact and policy evaluations, stakeholder consultations and product development. Elitsa has worked on a range of projects for public and private institutions on barriers to trade and investment and regulatory issues in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, Mercosur, South Korea and the US. She has written on vulnerabilities of supply chains, US-UK-EU relations, implementation of trade agreements, economic benefits of services trade, digital market access and sustainability issues both for policy and academic audiences. She holds a PhD in International Political Economy from the LSE, an MA in European Studies from KU Leuven, Belgium, and a BSc in International Economics and Management from Bocconi University, Italy.
She is also a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and a Visiting Lecturer at New Bulgarian University. She teaches courses in Global Political Economy, European Trade Policy, and European Union Policies. She is also the lead of the UACES Research Network on Trade Implementation and Enforcement Research (TIER).
Keynote Speakers
Natalie Black
Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific
Natalie Black was appointed Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Asia Pacific, covering North-East Asia, South-East Asia and Australasia in September 2018.
Natalie has held a number of posts in Her Majesty’s Government.
Previous roles include:
- Deputy Head of the Number 10 Policy Unit
- Director of the Internet Harms Unit
- Director of the Office of Cyber Security, Cabinet Office
Before joining the Civil Service, Natalie was the Chief of Staff for Security at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, London2012, and a management consultant.
Natalie is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Harvard Kennedy School, where she was a Fulbright scholar.
Chris Southworth
Co-Chair, Legal Reform Advisory Board, ICC Digital Standards
Chris Southworth is Secretary General at the ICC United Kingdom. Prior to joining ICC he was Executive Director for Global Partnerships, at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), Head of the International Chambers of Commerce Unit at UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and a Senior Policy Advisor to Lord Heseltine for his independent review of UK competitiveness. In 2011 he helped set up the mid-size business export programme at UKTI and was a Senior Policy Advisor for the 2011 Government Review of Mid-Size Businesses. Former roles have encompassed deregulatory policy at Better Regulation Executive, social enterprise policy at the Department for Business and stints in a local strategic partnership and the charity sector.