John CLARKE

John CLARKE is director for international affairs in the European Commission’s DG Agriculture. Since May 2013 he has been focused, in particular, on multilateral negotiations with industrialised countries that include the USA and Japan, as well as with Africa in DG Agriculture and Rural Development. In this role, he has also been responsible for relations with Asian and Latin American countries, their free trade agreements, neighbourhood policy and EU enlargements. Prior to this, he was head of the EU delegation to the World Trade Organisation and the UN in Geneva. He joined the European Commission in 1993 as a trade negotiator. For ten years before joining the Commission, Mr Clarke held various official roles in the Hong Kong government, including as the governor’s head of cabinet.