As WTO Members prepare for the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Cameroon this March, WITA International is launching a new global webinar series: WTO Matters. The series will explore the core functions of the WTO, reforms needed to keep the institution effective and relevant, and the key policy issues shaping debates.
Featured Speakers:
Padideh Ala’i, Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law
Eugenia Lizano, Chief of Section-Trade Policies Review, Americas, World Trade Organization
Roy Santana, Secretary of the Council for Trade in Goods, World Trade Organization
Santiago Wills, Director – General Council and Trade Negotiations Committee Division, World Trade Organization
Moderator: Angela Ellard, Senior Advisor (non-resident), Center for Strategic and International Studies; former Deputy Director General, World Trade Organization
Speaker Biographies
Padideh Ala’i, Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law
Padideh Ala’i is a Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law (WCL). She specializes in international economic law, law of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and comparative legal traditions. She teaches international trade law and comparative law. Professor Alai’s scholarship has concentrated on the history of free trade, transparency obligations of the WTO, and their implications on internal domestic transparency, universalizing the administrative state through the multilateral trading system, as well as good governance and evolution of international anti-corruption norms.
In August 2017, Professor Ala’i was appointed Director of International and Comparative Legal Studies and Faculty Director of the International Legal Studies Program (ILSP). In her new role, she promotes, represents, and coordinates the law school’s renowned international programs that have been consistently ranked among some of the most prestigious programs in the United States.
Professor Ala’i is also the Director of the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program at WCL, a Fulbright program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The Program brings accomplished mid-career professionals from developing countries to the U.S for 10 months of non-degree study and professional development in the general field of law and human rights. In addition, since 2014, she has led the interdisciplinary Trade, Investment and Development Program (TID) that provides resources to students interested in the linkage between trade and other disciplines such as intellectual property, environment, investment, labor, and human rights.
Professor Ala’i currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL). She is an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and a Member of the Academic Board of the European Law Students’ Association/World Trade Organization Moot Court Competition. She is also Chair of the Organizing Committee of Wenger Family Lecture Series on International Trade Law at WCL, an endowment dedicated exclusively to international trade law education and training of young trade lawyers at WCL. She previously served as Co-Chair of the International Economic Law Group (IELG) of American Society of International Law (ASIL) and Co-Chair of the AALS Section on Comparative Law.
Professor Ala’i received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1988. Prior to joining the faculty of WCL, from 1988-1997, she was in private practice, representing governments from developing countries, as well as foreign companies in the United States. At Reichler, Milton & Medel (merged subsequently with Foley Hoag), from 1991-1997, she was part of the legal team representing the Government of the Philippines in international commercial arbitration and U.S. court litigation against Westinghouse Corporation for breach of contract and bribery of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. She also represented governments of Guyana, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Philippines in negotiations with foreign investors, including in the context of privatization efforts and legal reforms proposed by the World Bank. During her tenure at Jones Day from 1988-1991, she specialized in corporate and international banking practice, advising foreign companies with respect to their U.S. banking-related activities, and representing such companies before regulatory banking agencies, specifically the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Her recent publications include Research Handbook on Transparency (eds. with Robert Vaughn, Edward Elgar Publishing), “Transparency in International Economic Relations and the Role of the WTO” in Research Handbook on Transparency (with Matthew D’Orsi, Edward Elgar Publishing), “Climate Change Innovation, Products and Services Under the GATT/WTO System” in Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Climate Change (with David Gantz, Edward Elgar Publishing), and “Civil Consequences of Corruption in International Commercial Contracts” in American Journal of Comparative Law.
Eugenia Lizano, Chief of Section-Trade Policy Review, Americas, World Trade Organization
Ms. Eugenia Lizano is the Chief of Section for the Americas in the WTO’s Trade Policies Review Division, with more than three decades of experience in international trade policy and economic analysis. She holds a Ph.D. in International Economics from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. Prior to joining the WTO, she held academic and research positions in both the United States and Costa Rica.
Roy Santana, Secretary of the Council for Trade in Goods, World Trade Organization
Mr. Santana has more than 25 years of experience in tariffs and other customs matters. He has worked for the Market Access Division of the World Trade Organization since 2004, where he has served as the Secretary of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG), the Committee on Market Access and the Committee on Customs Valuation. He has also provided technical support to the
Committee of Participants of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), the negotiations for the expansion of the ITA, the Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF), the Negotiating Group on Non-Agricultural Products (NAMA), and the negotiations for an Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA). He has served as a technical liaison in nine disputes under the Dispute Settlement Understanding of the WTO, contributed to a number of reports and publications by the WTO Secretariat, and frequently trains government officials in various WTO agreements.
Mr. Santana holds an LL.M. in Trade Regulation from New York University (NYU), a degree in Law from the University of Costa Rica, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the same university. Mr. Santana is a member of the New York and Costa Rican Bars. He lectures at the Catholic University of Lyon (UCLY), the World Trade Institute (WTI) in Bern, the LLM on Food Law of the Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali “Guido Carli” in Rome, and the Colegio de México in Mexico City.
Santiago Wills, Director – General Council and Trade Negotiations Committee Division, World Trade Organization
Mr. Santiago Wills is the Director of the Council and Trade Negotiations Committee Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO), responsible for the Governing Bodies of the WTO, namely the Ministerial Conference, the General Council, the Dispute Settlement Body, and the Trade Negotiations Committee. He was also recently recognized by the World Economic Forum as a highly influential Young Global Leader.
He previously served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Colombia to the WTO. In that capacity he was appointed by all WTO Members as Chair of the Negotiating Group on Rules, which included the Fisheries Subsidies negotiations that he managed to bring to a multilateral agreement under his Chairmanship in June 2022. He also served as Member of the Management Board of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL) and as Co-Chair of the OECD Committee on Fisheries. Before joining the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the WTO, he served as Director of International Trade and Investment Protection at a highly recognized law firm in Colombia and held different public sector positions. Amb. Wills has served for the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Counsellor at the Colombian Embassy to Canada; and for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, as Adviser to the Deputy Minister of Trade.
For over a decade, Amb. Wills has been a lecturer on WTO Law, International Trade, and international dispute settlement mechanisms at various Universities, and has published several academic articles on such topics, as well as numerous media articles. Amb. Wills holds a Law degree from Los Andes University (Bogota, Colombia) and two Master’s Degrees in International Economic Law from the University of Barcelona.
Moderator: Angela Ellard, Senior Advisor (non-resident), Center for Strategic and International Studies; former Deputy Director General, World Trade Organization
Angela Paolini Ellard is renowned for her expertise in trade and international economic policy, resolving trade barriers, negotiating outcomes, and building coalitions. She is a Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC.
Ms. Ellard served as Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization from June 2021 to August 2025. During her tenure, she was responsible for dispute settlement/reform, trade remedies, market access/trade facilitation, and negotiations to curb harmful fisheries subsidies. As a diplomat and key member of the senior leadership team, she supervised the Secretariat’s facilitation of the successful conclusion and entry into force of the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement. She also oversaw the WTO budget and financial operations, providing transparency and accountability as well as sound fiscal management.
Previously, Ms. Ellard had a distinguished 26-year career as Majority and Minority Chief Trade Counsel in the U.S. Congress. She achieved significant bipartisan trade policy outcomes with Congressional leaders and five Presidential administrations, including trade agreement negotiation and implementation, development programs, and U.S. trade and customs laws. Before her tenure on the Hill, she practiced law at major U.S.law firms, focusing on trade litigation, policy, and legislation.
She earned her J.D. cum laude/Tulane Law School, M.A. in Public Policy/Tulane University, and B.A. summa cum laude/Tulane’s Newcomb College. She speaks and lectures worldwide and has received numerous awards for her leadership and contributions to trade law and policy.
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