Claudia Locatelli

Biography

Claudia Locatelli brings over three decades of experience in international trade and investment, regional integration, and services regulation. She began her career at the Swiss Ministry for Economic Affairs as a member of the Swiss negotiating team during the Uruguay Round, which led to the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and also worked on Switzerland's trade negotiations with the European Union. She then served for more than ten years as a civil servant at the European Commission in Brussels, where she focused on trade and regulatory issues in the telecommunications and financial services sectors. She served as a Cabinet member to two successive European Commissioners – Martin Bangemann and Frits Bolkestein. Ms. Locatelli then transferred to Geneva where she joined the Secretariat of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), assisting EFTA Member States in negotiating Regional Trade Agreements Since 2008, she has been with the WTO, where she has worked extensively on trade in services and investment-related matters. She leads the WTO Secretariat team supporting Members in their negotiation of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement – an agreement negotiated among 126 WTO Members, including 90 developing economies.