Skip to main content

28 November 2022, 09:30 - 17:00 Nepal Time | By invitation only

Co-organized by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Nepal

The workshop aims to raise awareness of stakeholders on feasible data and mechanisms for cross-border electronic exchange of data for trade facilitation, with special emphasis on utilizing emerging technologies, including distributed ledger technology/blockchain, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and data analytics. The workshop will be attended by government officials from relevant agencies (including the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Department of Customs, and other government regulatory agencies) and private stakeholders, as well as development partners. The workshop is organized under the project “Enhancing capacity for sustainable cross-border trade digitalization through application of emerging technologies”, supported by Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF).

Mr. Gobinda Bahadur Karkee
Mr. Gobinda Bahadur Karkee
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MOICS), Nepal
Know More

Mr. Gobinda Karkee is the Joint Secretary in the Multilateral Trade Division of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Government of Nepal. He has served in the civil service since 1996 and served as Local Development Officer, Chief District Officer in various districts and Director General in the Department of Tourism. He also served in the capacity of Consul General of Nepal in Lhasa, Tibet, for four years (2016-20) and appointed as Secretary in the Ministry of Social Development in Province One, before joining the MOICS. Mr. Karkee holds two Master's Degree from Tribhuvan University and an additional Master's Degree in International Development Studies from GRIPS, Japan. He has successfully attended various national and international training/seminar/conference/forum in the areas of; local governance and decentralization, immigration, tourism, trade and investment promotion, digital trade and trade facilitation.

Ms. Soo Hyun Kim
Ms. Soo Hyun Kim
Economic Affairs Officer, Trade Policy and Facilitation Section, Trade, Investment and Innovation Division (TIID), United Nations ESCAP
Know More

Ms. Soo Hyun Kim is Economic Affairs Officer, Trade Policy and Facilitation Section, Trade, Investment and Innovation Division, United Nations ESCAP. She is currently managing capacity building projects on cross-border paperless trade and trade facilitation in the age of pandemics; and supporting the implementation of the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific. Previously she worked in the Investment and Enterprise Development Section with research focus on foreign direct investment (FDI) and investment regimes and their impact on sustainable development. She also worked to promote public-private sector dialogue by organizing the Asia-Pacific Business Forum (APBF) and supporting the ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (ESBN). Prior to this, she worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York; local government (United Kingdom); and higher education institution (United Kingdom). She holds master’s degrees in business administration (specialisation in financial management) from TiasNimbas Business School (Netherlands) and library and information science from Loughborough University (United Kingdom). 

Email: [email protected]

Mr. Christian Lembke
Mr. Christian Lembke
Technical Attaché, Compliance and Facilitation Directorate, World Customs Organization (WCO)
Know More

Mr. Christian Lembke, as a Technical Attaché under the WCO Compliance and Facilitation Directorate since June 2020, is mainly involved in the area of the WCO Data Model, the online platform RAM-MAP SWIM, Advance Passenger Information as well as the Globally Networked Customs concept.

He has previously worked as a customs officer at Frankfurt am Main Airport (Germany) in the field of risk assessment for air cargo shipments since 2005. He has been involved in a risk assessment project in an EU working group at the international level.

Mr. Armen Manukyan
Mr. Armen Manukyan
Consultant, Project Manager, United Nations ESCAP
Know More

Currently PM for UN ESCAP PM CBTD Project and Business Process Re-engineering Specialist in Avenue Consulting Group LLC for the NSW (National Single Window). Experience includes Technical Attaché in World Customs Organization for last seven years up to April 2021. Covered the role of Customs Attaché for Armenian State Revenue Committee for the cooperation with EU DGTAXUD. Leaded several WCO programmes in the area of Implementation/enhancement of Single Window environments in the Member States, enhancement for national Coordinated Border Management projects, Globally Networked Customs development of Utility Blocks, development of standards, guidelines and tools, coordination in the relevant areas with other international stakeholders such as UN CEFACT, ESCAP, COMESA, UNCTAD, ECOWAS, IDB, USAID. Contributed to the development of UN CEFACT standards and Recommendations for trade facilitation focusing on SW and overall digitalization of public services. UN ESCAP expert for Single Window and Exchange of information (WCO-ESCAP Joint Task Force for the development of Utility Blocks). Between 2014-2020 planned and delivered more than thirty regional projects, national capacity building projects, contributed to more than twenty five projects and events organized by other international stakeholders, delivered feasibility study missions. From 2008-2014 covered various positions in Armenian State Revenue Committee starting from customs officer to top management positions such as Head of International Relations Department and Executive Assistant to Chairman of SRC.

Mr. Ziyang David Fan
Mr. Ziyang David Fan
Head of Digital Trade, World Economic Forum
Know More

Ziyang David Fan is the Head of Digital Trade at the World Economic Forum. Based in San Francisco, his work focuses on how the digital ecosystem, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies (such as 3D printing and blockchain), are rapidly changing international trade. He is an attorney and technologist with 15+ years of experience in the U.S., China, and Southeast Asia.  He has worked in both public and private sectors, including at Airbnb, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Shearman & Sterling LLP, and the International Monetary Fund. He received his law degree from the George Washington University Law School and his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  

Ziyang has published and spoken extensively on technology and international trade, including expert testimonies to governments around the world such as the UK Parliament. His work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, MIT Technology Review, CNBC, etc. He also teaches a graduate-level course on “Tech Policy” at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley. Ziyang is fluent in English and Chinese.  

Mr. Steve Capell
Mr. Steve Capell
Director, GoSource Pty Ltd, UN/CEFACT project lead
Know More

Mr. Steven Capell is a technology architect and runs a boutique consultancy in Canberra Australia that is focused on digital transformation for federal government customers.  He has also been a UN/CEFACT expert for around 20 years and has contributed to the blockchain whitepaper published in 2020 and led the verifiable credentials white paper published in 2022.

pic
Mr. Tahseen Khan
Advisory Committee Member, UNNExT & Vice-chair, UN/CEFACT
Know More

Mr Tahseen Ahmad Khan is working around Trade Facilitation, Electronic Governance, Electronic Commerce and Electronic Security at national and international level for about four decades.

At the national level Mr Khan has been working with the Government of India for about four decades at different levels on above referred areas. He has handled major national projects in Trade and Industry sectors, some of which includes Electronic Trade, Electronic Procurement, Electronic Intellectual Property, Net Banking, Secure National and International Transactions, Electronic Commerce Act etc. He was also Head of Trusted Third-Party/ Digital Signature setup of the country.

At the regional level, he is active as an expert for United Nations Cross border Paperless Trade initiative of United Nations Economic andSocial Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He is also a member of the advisory committee on United Nations Network of Experts on Paperless Trade and Transport for Asia and the Pacific (UNNExT). He has also the distinction of holding many other positions like UN/CEFACT Rapporteur for Asia, Chairman of Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business etc.

At the international level, he has been handling multiple activities. He is currently associated in the work program of United Nations Centre forTrade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), Geneva as its Vice Chair. Some of his current active engagements are on major global projects like Ensuring legally significant trusted trans-boundary electronic interaction, International Trade and Mutual recognition, Block Chain forTrade Facilitation, Internet of Things for Trade Facilitation, Artificial Intelligence for Trade Facilitation, Digital Identity for Trade Facilitation, Verifiable Credentials for Cross border trade etc.

Ms. Kyeongrim (Kerri) Ahn
Ms. Kyeongrim (Kerri) Ahn
UNNExT Expert/ESCAP Consultant
Know More
Work Experience
  • Head of R&D Center, The K Consulting
  • International Consultant, ESCAP, IMO, ADB
  • Lecturer, Department of Management Information, Hanyang Cyber University
  • Guest Researcher, Engineering Laboratory, System Integration Division, Process Engineering Group, US NIST
  • General Manager, R&D Center, KL-Net

Company Name: The K Consulting

  • Leading for work automation and standardization to support trade and logistics facilitation of global SCM
  • Develop and propose international standard to IMO, UN/CEFACT, etc.
  • Develop and operate Information service system and IT solution
  • Conduct Korean national R&D project and IMO/ESCAP/ADB project

Subject: Cross-Border paperless trade

  • Dr. Ahn is working on standardization for trade facilitation with ESCAP and conducting Feasibility studies on the cross-border electronic exchange of trade data.
  • In addition, she is working and conducting Korean R&D projects to promote national strategy
Mr. Shantanu Godbole
Mr. Shantanu Godbole
IBM Research
Know More

Mr. Shantanu Godbole leads IBM Research's vision and execution around the important topic of Sustainability. He focuses on building innovative technology solutions for helping enterprises and their supply chains with climate resiliency and carbon emissions accounting, optimization, and reduction. He has earlier led applied AI and Blockchain research in the Agriculture, Retail, Financial Services, and Education industries. His focus is on researching and experimenting in-market with clients to develop first of a kind solutions, that then make their way to IBM product and service offerings. He led the founding and growth of the IBM Center for Blockchain Innovation in Singapore, building solutions in the domains of trade and finance. He has been with IBM Research since 2006 and has spent 2 years in the analytics services business of IBM as a Global Analytics Architect building and deploying text mining, speech analytics, and predictive analytics solutions. He is a Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM and a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. He has been recognized by several awards including an IBM Corporate Award, the Best of IBM award twice, multiple Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards, an IBM Research Client Award, and a 10-year most influential paper award at PAKDD. He is part of the UN Advisory Group on Cross-border Paperless Trade Facilitation. He has a Ph.D. in machine learning from IIT Bombay and is active in professional service and mentoring.

Ms. Nancy Chen Junhua
Ms. Nancy Chen Junhua
Senior Product Development Manager, GUUD Pte Ltd
Know More

Ms. Nancy Chen Junhua is a Senior Product Development Manager at GUUD (International) Pte Ltd. She has 18 years of working experience in product development in the healthcare and trade facilitation domains.

At GUUD, she leads project teams in the development of platforms such as the East African Community (EAC) Single Customs Territory (SCT), which facilitate transit trade of five African countries by linking the five revenue authorities and two port authorities with a single platform.

In addition, Nancy is in charge of development of GUUD data strategy and products that connects all GUUD’s platforms.

Previously, she was an Innovation and Data Lead, leading a team that successfully built and implemented Blockchain and AI based solutions to promote cross border trade efficiency.

Mr. Janaka Wijayasiri
Mr. Janaka Wijayasiri
Trade Expert/consultant
Know More

Mr. Janaka Wijayasiri is a researcher/consultant with over 20 years of experience in international trade and trade policy in Sri Lanka. He was a Research Fellow and Head of the International Policy Unit of the Institute of Policy Studies in Sri Lanka. He also worked for Deloitte Consulting LLP as a Trade Expert. His research interests include trade facilitation, competitiveness, value chains, MSMEs and mainstreaming of gender into trade. Janaka has several publications to his name which have appeared as articles and chapters in both journal and book publications. He holds a PhD from Monash University (Australia), Masters from Erasmus University (Netherlands) and Bachelors from University of Sussex (UK).

Mr. Shyam Dahal
Mr. Shyam Dahal
Trade Facilitation Expert, Department of Customs Nepal
Know More

Mr. Shyam Prasad Dahal is the World Customs Organizations’ accredited Customs Modernization Advisor. He served more than 20 years in the Ministry of Finance and Nepal Customs focusing on Customs Reform and Modernization and Customs automation until 2013. He was continuously engaged with Asian Development Bank as a Trade Facilitation Expert from April, 2013 to till date supporting SASEC trade facilitation initiatives at the national level. Mr. Dahal contributed in formulating six consecutive Customs Reform Plans and helped transform Customs through Customs automation and procedural reform. He has published several articles on Customs and trade facilitation areas. He is associated with several national trade and industry organizations as an honorary adviser on Trade and Transport Facilitation.

Mr. Ramesh Sukamani
Mr. Ramesh Sukamani
Customs Officer, Department of Customs, Nepal
Know More

Mr. Ramesh Sukamani is currently working as Section Officer (Revenue) at Department of Customs, Nepal. He has been working more than 18 years for Government of Nepal, and since the last 14 years he has been engaged in Department of Customs, Nepal to pursue Customs Reform and Modernization, Customs Automation, simplification of Customs procedures and introducing the trade facilitation measures. Some of his key contributions in Customs reform initiatives are; developing the Customs Reform and Modernization Plan 2021-2026, conducting Time Release Study, introducing e-payment in Customs and Mobile App for customs clearance. Mr. Sukamani, as a resource person, has conducted various trainings program for Customs Staffs, Customs Brokers and Other Stakeholders on Asycuda Modules, Trade Facilitation and Custom Reform initiatives.

Mr. Purushottam Ojha
Mr. Purushottam Ojha
Consultant, ESCAP/Former Secretary, Nepal
Know More

Mr. Purushottam Ojha served for almost 14 years in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies in the senior positions of Joint Secretary and Secretary and mentored the team of expert in formulation of Trade Policy-2009 and the Nepal Trade Integration Strategy-2010.  He led the Nepalese team in the bilateral trade negotiations with India, Bangladesh, China and United States of America as well as in the Committee of Expert (COE) of SAFTA and Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) of the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Mr. Ojha also led the Nepalese delegations in multilateral trade negotiations.

Besides two academic Degree; Master's in Public Administration and Masters of Arts (Culture and Anthropology), Mr. Ojha had successfully attended several international training courses related with trade, transport and trade facilitation including the Trade Policy course at Harvard Kennedy School, Boston. Mr. Ojha is also a prolific writer on the economic issues, particularly on industry, trade, transit, transport, and private sector development. He has authored numerous Articles and Research Papers, published in the local Journal and Newspapers as well as in the international journals.

for more information, please contact

Trade, Investment and Innovation Division +66 2 288-1234 [email protected]
Print this page