The Rodolfo Rivas Project

Season 6, Episode 1. Ralph Ossa. Chief Economist at the World Trade Organization. WTO. This is the first episode of our sixth season, and I could not think of a better guest than Ralph Ossa, who has been serving as Chief Economist for the WTO for over a year after a long career as an academic. Ralph walks us through his career, describing his interests, motivations, and some of the challenges he e...

Season 5, Episode 13. Bonus Christmas episode. Rodolfo Rivas. Marijke Smit is back! For this special bonus episode, I am again joined by my colleague Marijke, only this time, the roles are reversed. Seeing how much fun Marijke had talked about ten influential films in her life, I decided to revisit my most influential movies and discuss them with her. I am glad she accepted my invitation; this tim...

Season 5 Episode 12. Kilian Riedhof, Award-winning Filmmaker known for "Gladbeck" (2018), “You Will Not Have My Hate" (2022), and his latest "Stella. A Life." (2023), which stars Berlinale best actress award-winner Paula Beer. Kilian is a multi-talented Director and writer who studied at the Hamburg Film School. He was at the Zurich Film Festival to present his latest film, and that is when I had...

Season 5 Episode 11. Tayutic Mena, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Tayutic is a seasoned veteran among the delegates dealing with the WTO. I have been working with him for many years, and we have worked together in many negotiations, including the ITA expansion, EGA, and TiSA. Since then, he has become a celebrity in the WTO, thanks to his involve...

Season 5 Episode 10 – Willy Alfaro, Director, Vision & Strategy at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Willy has been in Geneva and the WTO since the GATT days and has had a vibrant experience across the WTO, serving in different capacities across various divisions. Everyone knows Willy, and this is because he is a very knowledgeable and friendly person who, in terms of the Multilateral Trading Sy...

Season 5 Episode 09 – Barbara Ramos, Director, Chief, Research and Strategies for Exports at International Trade Centre (ITC). I've had plenty of interesting guests in the over 60 episodes across five seasons, and yet, Barbara stands out amongst them with a vibrant story spanning continents and experiences. Barbara, originally from Brazil, was attracted to International Relations early and has run...

Season 5 Episode 08 – Nir Baranga, Director, Trade in Services and Investment Department at the Foreign Trade Administration of the Ministry of Economy, Israel. Nir is one of my earliest colleagues at the Ministry. We started around the same time and remain kicking and screaming. He is a frontline negotiator leading bilateral, plurilateral, and multilateral services negotiations for Israel. When h...

Season 5 Episode 07 – Geraldo Vidigal, Coordinator, LL.M. International Trade and Investment Law, University of Amsterdam. Geraldo, although young, is a veteran of the International Trade world. Ask anyone interested in trade, and they will know of him. I have known Geraldo for a long time, with our professional careers running in parallel. I had the opportunity to sit down with Geraldo during his...

Season 5 Episode 06 – Jorge Castro, Chief of Section at the World Trade Organization’s Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC), in Geneva, Switzerland. Jorge is a very experienced professional on the regional and multilateral front. He worked for the Venezuelan government and then for the Andean Community before making his way to the WTO. He was in Legal Affairs for many years befo...

Season 5 Episode 05 – Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) in Brussels. Hosuk is a leading author on trade diplomacy, EU-Far East relations, and the digital economy. I enjoyed catching up with him during his recent visit to Geneva. I have known him for a while, and we’ve talked and exchanged messages, but this was the first time I met him,...

Season 5 Episode 04 – Antony Taubman, Director, Intellectual Property, Government Procurement & Competition Division at the World Trade Organization. Antony Taubman, a well-known figure in the International Intellectual Property scene, serving as Director of the Intellectual Property, Government Procurement & Competition Division at the World Trade Organization. We had a fascinating conversation s...

Season 5 Episode 03 – Stuart Harbinson, former Permanent Representative of Hong Kong and the HK Special Administrative Region of China at the WTO, and former Chief of Staff to the DG of the WTO. Stuart had a distinguished career in public service in Hong Kong, serving from 1994 to 2002 and then joining the WTO as one of the OGs Chief of Staff to Director-General Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, and late...

Season 5 Episode 02 – Sainabou Taal Knebel, Head of Fisheries Subsidies at the World Trade Organization (WTO), in Geneva, Switzerland. For the second episode of our fifth season, yes, you heard that right, our fifth season, and episode 56 if you are counting, I had the pleasure of talking to Sainabou Taal Knebel, who leads Fisheries Subsidies work at the World Trade Organization. Sai is passionate...

Season 5 Episode 01 – David Bisbee, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States of America (USA) to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. As we kick off the 5th season of the podcast, I could not think of a better guest than David. I have known David since the beginning of my time working with WTO. We worked on several files, including Trade Facilitation and Governmen...

Season 4 Episode 17 – Juan Pablo Moya Hoyos, Dispute Settlement Lawyer at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. I have known Juan Pablo for some time since we ran in the same circles, and we have common friends, but we only really had time to talk recently. We have a lot in common and cover much of it in this fun and insightful conversation. However, we only got to some of it....

Season 4 Episode 16 – Lenka Nahlovska, Secretary of the Czech Arbitration Court and Head of Domain Name Dispute Resolution. During my recent trip to Prague for the Panelist meeting, where I had the privilege of making a presentation, I wanted to get Lenka on the podcast. I've known Lenka for a while, and working with Czech Arbitration Court through all these years has been a pleasure. Lenka has be...

Season 4 Episode 15 – Gavin Weeks, Associate Fellow at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and a Clinical Psychologist and Neuropsychologist. During my recent trip to Oxford University for a Chief of Staff Certification at its world-renowned business school, I had to opportunity to meet Gavin. As part of the program, he delivered an insightful lecture on sustaining energy at work. I found...

Season 4 Episode 14 – Anna Kazejak, award-winning Filmmaker. Anna is the talented filmmaker behind the funny and intelligent "Fucking Bornholm", which I had the pleasure of watching during the Zurich Film Festival in a packed theater. The film is very personal, and we hear a lot more about the development and some behind-the-scenes stories in our conversation. Although we try not to go into spoile...

Season 4 Episode 13 – Marijke Smit, Senior Counsellor at the Mission of Israel to the WTO. For episode 50, I wanted to do something a little different, and I cannot think of a better guest to track how ten films have influenced the personal and professional life of someone than my friend and colleague, Marijke Smit. We have been colleagues for over six years, and we usually talk about Internationa...

Season 4 Episode 12 – Robin Tallendier, Founder & Director at Atelier Wen. During Geneva Watch Days, I met a couple of individuals in the watch industry. I was lucky to talk to Robin Tallendier, Founder of Atelier Wen, a watch brand focusing on luxury watches made in China. Robin is passionate about Chinese watches, and we talked for hours. We captured some of that conversation in this episode. We...

Season 4 Episode 11 – Emeric Delalandre, Co-Founder at Hegid. Emeric is a talented and passionate entrepreneur currently working in watches at Hegid. Still, from our conversation, I could tell he could easily be working in any other industry and succeed. It just happens that he is passionate about watches, which is why we have Hegid. Emeric is a French national, and this is something that drives h...

Season 4 Episode 08 – Roy Davidoff, Modern & Vintage watch expert and half of the Roy and Sacha duo. The Rodolfo Rivas Project has always been about talking to interesting individuals and learning from their experiences. Since I am a lawyer working in International Trade, Intellectual Property, and Dispute Settlement, many of my guests work in these areas. However, I’ve also featured filmmakers be...

Season 4 Episode 09 – Leticia Caminero, Consultant Research and Special Projects at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This season is the Caribbean season at The Rodolfo Rivas Project! Like a couple of my previous guests this season, my guest hails from the Caribbean, specifically the Dominican Republic. She is Leticia Caminero, a fellow professional in the International Intellec...

Season 4 Episode 08 – Amb. Santiago Wills, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the World Trade Organization (WTO). I was thrilled to talk to Ambassador Wills and had been looking forward to this conversation for a long time. But unfortunately, he has been very busy with the Fisheries Subsidies negotiation at the WTO pretty much since he arrived in Geneva as Ambassador. Still, after the success...

Season 4 Episode 07 – Dr. Jan Yves Remy, Director of the Shridath Ramphal Centre (SRC). Jan Yves is an International trade lawyer and Director of the Shridath Ramphal Centre (SRC), a leading center in the Caribbean for International Trade Law, Policy, and Services. She’s had a successful career spanning over twenty years in International Trade. She’s advised governments and private stakeholders on...