The Rodolfo Rivas Project

Season 4 Episode 06 – Marco Tulio Molina Tejada, Deputy Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Marco is one of the longest-serving Deputy Permanent Representatives to the WTO currently working In Geneva. If you know a bit about the WTO and/or International dispute settlement, you’ve probably heard about him. I have been meaning to invite him for a conversation...

Season 4 Episode 05 – Rodolfo C. Rivas, Chief of Staff, Arbitrator, Law Professor, Film Director & Podcaster. Rodolfo Rivas is usually the host of The Rodolfo Rivas Project, but for this episode, the first guest of the podcast, Mr. Brian Frenkel, is back to take the duties of host and talk to the guest Rodolfo Rivas. It was great to have Brian taking the reins and flipping the table for a special...

Season 4 Episode 04 – Keith Rockwell, Director, Information and External Relations Division and spokesperson at World Trade Organization from 1996 until 2022. Keith is a legend at the WTO and, I think, the longest-serving Division Director. So if it happened at the WTO, he saw it, and he can probably tell you about it; in fact, that was his job, or that is his job at least for a few more days befo...

Season 4 Episode 03 – Matthew Wilson, Chief, Special Projects (Partnerships, Relations with UN RCs, Diversity & Inclusion) at International Trade Centre. For our 40th episode, I host Matthew Wilson. I have wanted to invite him to the podcast for some time now, and I am thrilled we finally made it happen. Matthew is from Barbados and a professional with over 20 years in Trade & Development. But tha...

Season 4 Episode 02 – Dr. Juneyoung Lee (이준영), Legal Affairs Officer at the World Trade Organization (WTO). June has been working at the WTO for over 14 years, with a stint at the International Trade Center (ITC) and previously at UNDP. Dr. June is a national from Korea, and as she tells it, even though she’s been away from Korea for a long time, she still longs for going back. In our conversat...

Season 4 Episode 01 – Jaime Coghi, Deputy Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Jaime has been working in Geneva on WTO-related matters since the establishment of the WTO. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone as knowledgeable about the WTO as Jaime; if it has happened at the WTO, Jaime has probably seen it. I have known Jaime for over ten years, and he is a...

Season 3 Episode 16 – Professor Gabrielle Marceau, Ph. D.. Counsellor for Research on Legal Policy at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Gabrielle is a Canadian national and an institution at the WTO, where she has been since its inception. I have known Gabrielle for many years, but this is the first time we had an extended conversation, and I enjoyed it. During our conversation, she talked about...

Season 3 Episode 15 – Nazrene Mannie. Executive Director of Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN) Global. Nazrene is a South African national and a specialist in social policy focusing on youth employment and skills development. In her work, she collaborates closely with organizations such as the Global Alliance for Youth, private sector companies, and international development entities such as the...

Season 3 Episode 14 – Prof. Dr. Peter Van den Bossche. Former Chairman of the Appellate Body at the WTO and current Director of Studies at the World Trade Institute in Bern. I met Prof. Van den Bossche when I was an intern at the Appellate Body, and since then, I remember being impressed by how knowledgeable and kind he was. I did not know it at the time, but those felt like the golden years of th...

Season 3 Episode 13 – Colette van der Ven. Founder and Director of TULIP – a Geneva-based consulting firm. Colette is an international lawyer with expertise in trade and development. In her work, she advises governments and international organizations on leveraging legal and regulatory frameworks to promote inclusive and green development. Colette holds a Juris Doctor from the Harvard Law School a...

Season 3 Episode 12 – Elena Horn. Film Director of “The Lesson” (2020) and “Lands of Lost Content” (2017) amongst other films. For the second time, The Rodolfo Rivas Project visited the Zurich Film Festival, and I was lucky enough to meet a couple of filmmakers. In this episode, I talked to Elena Horn the day after the premiere of her film “The Lesson”, which screened to a big audience that includ...

Season 3 Episode 11 – Andreas Koefoed. Film Director of “The Lost Leonardo” (2021), “The Arms Drop” (2014) and “Ballroom Dancer” (2011) amongst other films. I had a chance to talk to Andreas at the Zurich Film Festival for the premiere of his latest film, “The Lost Leonardo”. The screening room was full and the experience being back at the movie theater with a big audience was great. During our co...

Season 3 Episode 10 – S.J.D. Chang-fa Lo. Permanent Representative of the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Doctor Chang-fa has accomplished a lot in his life before becoming the Permanent Representative for Chinese Taipei at the WTO. He has been a Law Professor, the Dean of the most prestigious Law School in Taip...

Season 3 Episode 9 – Fernando Amescua. Founder and Board President of Grupo Inmobiliario KIVA, as well as Board President at Fundacion y Empresa Donari, Station 24 Fitness, Zulu Ventures and Deckora Mexico, amongst other things. Fernando is an old friend, and I’ve known him for many years; and I had the great opportunity to reconnect with him, as well as other friends during my recent trip to Guad...

Season 3 Episode 8 – Doctor Edgardo Muñoz, Law Professor at my Alma Mater, Universidad Panamericana of Guadalajara. Edgardo wears many hats, including Arbitrator and Author. In our conversation, Edgardo talks about his early interest in literature, pursuing a legal career, and how this took him to the UK and Switzerland. The literary bug bit him early on, and he has written a couple of novels, wit...

Season 3 Episode 7 – My guest is Alan Yanovich. Alan is a Partner at Akin Gump in Geneva, Switzerland, where he represents foreign governments and multinational corporations on disputes before the WTO and other international dispute-resolution bodies. Alan was born and raised in Colombia and attended Georgetown for his bachelor's and JD degrees. In our conversation, he talks about his experience a...

Season 3 Episode 6 – My guest is Kholofelo Kugler. Kholofelo is a Counsel at the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL) in Geneva, Switzerland, where she advises developing country Members and least-developed countries (LDCs) on all issues relating to WTO law. Kholofelo is originally from South Africa, and in our conversation, she talks about how she ended up in law school and how at one point she thou...

Season 3 Episode 5 - My guest is Ismael Ortiz, Minister, Deputy Permanent Representative at the Mission of Mexico to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. Ismael is a good friend and a colleague that has been working in International Trade and the WTO practically since its inception. He has been stationed in Geneva for over a decade, which is when I first met him. In our conve...

Season 3 Episode 4 - My guest is Suja Rishikesh Mavroidis, Director of the Market Access Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Suja is a fascinating individual who has been working in international trade since the GATT Secretariat days. In our conversation, she talks about having a very International upbringing and how that shaped her into eventually getting a job at the GATT Secretariat...

Season 3 Episode 3 - My guest is Marco M. Aleman, Assistant Director General at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). In my conversation with Marco, we cover a lot of ground. He starts by talking about growing up in Colombia and how his interest in public service had its roots back then. He tells us how he got interested in the law and Intellectual Property, a new subject at the tim...

Season 3 Episode 2 - My guest is Angel Villalobos Rodríguez, Ambassador of Mexico to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and former Undersecretary of International Trade Negotiations and Director General of Foreign Investment at the Ministry of Economy in Mexico. In our conversation, Amb. Villalobos talks about growing up in Aguascalientes and moving to Nuevo Leon at an early age....

Season 3 Episode 1 - My guest is Edward Kwakwa, Assistant Director General at WIPO. This is the first episode of our third season. The second season did not go as planned, and I ended up recording very few episodes. That is something that I really want to fix this season. To kickstart it, I am honored to host Edward Kwakwa. We have been meaning to have this conversation for some time now, and I am...

Season 2 Episode 4 - My guest is Manuel Sanchez, the CEO, and founder of Enloya, he is also a very good friend. Although we have known each other for many years, I tried to explore some new ground during our conversation. There are certainly many parallels between his professional life and mine, so hopefully, this turned out to be insightful and interesting. Manuel talks about how he got intereste...

Season 2 Episode 3 - We are back! My guest is Dr. Jesus Seade (@JesusSeade), Under-Secretary for North-America and Chief Negotiator for the USMCA. He is one of the candidates to succeed Roberto Azevedo as Director General of the WTO. Dr. Seade has been involved in trade and multilateral affairs practically all of his professional life and he is truly a global citizen. In our conversation, I tried...

Season 2 Episode 2 - My guest is Roy Santana, a Counsellor at the Market Access Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Our conversation delves into a variety of other topics, such as how Roy, after studying Economics and Law became interested in International Trade. He traces his path from Costa Rica, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, through NYU and eventually the WTO. Roy is a self-defined...