Andrea SPEAR

Andrea Spear has been working in international trade, investment and private sector development for four decades – 15 years in the private sector, 12 in government (including 4 years as a WTO delegate: 1998-2002), 4 in the UN, and 15 as an independent adviser and evaluator.  

Career Synopsis

Based in Europe as an Independent Adviser since 2008, Ms Spear was Regional Adviser for Trade and Investment Policy for the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific during 2004-2008, In that capacity and in her ongoing advisory work, she has assisted more than 50 developing countries on trade (including WTO accession and post-accession implementation), investment, public sector reform, business environment reform, private sector/SME development, and competitiveness issues (mainly for the EU, GIZ, Sida, WTO and UN).  Ms Spear has also conducted numerous evaluations and impact assessments of regional and bilateral development cooperation programmes and projects (for the WTO, EU, Sida and OECD). In addition, while in government, she directed several high-level evaluations and reviews of domestic and international policies, strategies and programmes.

In the Australian Government, Ms Spear held a variety of senior positions related to diplomacy, trade, investment, private sector development, regional development and public sector reform. In the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, she was Acting Assistant Secretary of the Americas Branch; Director of the Latin America, Caribbean and Canada Section; Counsellor at the Australian Mission to the WTO in Geneva (lead negotiator on Services, Investment, Competition Policy, Transparency in Government Procurement, TRIMs, E-Commerce and Crosscutting Issues); Director of Trade Policy Coordination; and Director of the East Asia Analytical Unit. Prior to that, Ms Spear was Director of Trade and Investment Policy in the Queensland Premier’s Department.

Before entering public service, Ms Spear was Strategic Planning Coordinator at an Australian multinational company with transport, distribution, logistics, security and healthcare operations in 18 countries. She spent the first 12 years of her career with Business International/The Economist Group, working with international companies and governments in Latin America, Asia and Oceania on business environment issues, trade, investment, risk management, public-private sector dialogue and business advocacy.

Ms Spear has a Licenciatura in Latin American Studies (Development Socioeconomics) from the Universidad de las Américas in Mexico. She is fluent in English and Spanish and has a good working knowledge of French. She has lived and worked extensively in Latin America, Asia and Europe, and has also managed projects in Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans and Eastern Europe/Caucasus.