Trade Policy Plus

Panos A. Konandreas

Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics, University of California (Davis/Berkeley), M.S. in Computer Science, University of California (Davis) and M.S. in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens (Athens, Greece).

Long career with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ended in 2008 as Head of FAO's Office in Geneva, focussing on trade issues related to negotiations on agriculture under the WTO.  Before that, 16 years in Rome as Chief of Trade Policy and Commodity Projections Service and other senior positions, Commodities and Trade Division (1982-98).     

Earlier posts include: Principal Economist at the International Livestock Centre for Africa (1979-82) and Research Associate at the International Food Policy Research Institute (1976-79). 

His main areas of research include international trade policy issues and related WTO agreements and negotiation processes, food security and food aid policy, commodity markets and diversification opportunities for agricultural products, world price volatility and mitigating options, biofuel trends and related policies.  He has authored some 100 research works on these issues, including individual research monographs, technical reports and articles in refereed professional journals and books.  He was member of the Editorial Board of Food Policy for over 12 years and edited a special issue of this Journal on the Implications of the Uruguay Round for developing countries.

Competencies

Analysis of agricultural trade issues and implications of proposed reforms under the WTO negotiations

Assessment of the distributional effects of negotiated agreements and implications for policy adjustments at national level

Assessment of competitiveness and export diversification opportunities of agricultural products in an evolving global market

Global agricultural commodity analysis (short to medium-term outlook) and approaches to mitigate the effects of world price instability

Food security analysis at the national level and implications for food assistance

Training experience on WTO issues, including the Uruguay Round agreements on agriculture, SPS and TBT

Analysis of trends in biofuels and Interaction of energy and food prices

Organizing web-based economic information and related resources and building content in institutional websites