Mohammad SAEED

Dr. Mohammad Saeed is an accomplished professional in the areas of international trade law & policy, customs administration and modernization, trade and tariff policy formulation, trade logistics and cross-border trade procedures. With more than 35 years of experience at senior leadership positions with his national Government and the UN, he has provided advisory services to 50 plus developing countries. The advisory services focused to reform their trade policy, customs, and trade logistics to promote trade by improving competitiveness of the private businesses, especially by facilitating international trade transactions for reduction in time and cost and improving conducive business environment. Trade and investment facilitation, customs modernization, trade logistics, trade negotiation, dispute settlement and E commerce form part of his core expertise. From design to enforcement as a  customs man, from policy to negotiation as a trade diplomat coupled with extensive experience of drafting, interpreting and adjudication in the field of tax and trade laws allow him a special place in organizational management with a 360-view.  

Currently a freelance consultant, he last served as Chief Trade Facilitation and Policy for Business at the International Trade Centre (ITC) Geneva and led the team responsible for providing advisory services for conducive business environment and coordinated solutions for customs and border agencies.  Promoting environmental sustainability, streamlining E commerce policy and practices and mainstreaming gender in trade through policy and investment facilitation are highlights of his recent tasks. Earlier, Dr. Saeed worked as Senior Technical Adviser on Trade and Transport Facilitation with the United Nation Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and was trade negotiator with the WTO Mission of Pakistan in Geneva. As a functionary of the Pakistan Government, he worked at different leadership positions in the customs and commerce organizations under the Federal Board of Revenue and Ministry of Commerce both at home and abroad.

Dr. Saeed’s in-depth knowledge of the WTO agreements is drawn from negotiating trade agreements at regional and multilateral level as well serving on WTO dispute settlement panels (including as Chair) relating to issues including Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures, Trade Remedy measures, and GATT. Recently he chaired the Panel DS 589 (China-Canola Seed), and in the past also served on DS 512 (Russia- Traffic in Transit), Chaired DS 484 (Indonesia-Chicken), DS 475 (Russia-Pigs), DS 404 (US-Shrimps (Vietnam) and served on DS 392(US-Poultry (China).

Dr. Saeed has an in-depth understanding of the legal, economic, and political issues relating to the multilateral trading system, in particular the challenges and opportunities for developing countries. He has wide experience in the areas of technical assistance and capacity building for developing countries and fostering consensus on development related issues. His leadership and consensus building qualities have been acknowledged, as he was the elected chairman of the Committee on Customs Valuation of the WTO (2009) and as Vice Chair General Assembly of Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL), Geneva (2006-10). He also served as Chair of the WTO Committee on Market Access for consecutive three years (2006-2008). He is also member of UNNExT Advisory Group on Paperless Trade for SMEs, Expert on APEC E Commerce Business Alliance and on Board of Directors of International Network of Custom Universities (INCU).

Dr. Saeed has authored several papers and policy notes for consideration and action of national and global policymakers in improving cross-border trade. He has also served as visiting faculty at various institutes of training and professional development including University of Barcelona, LLM Program in International Economic Law and Policy (IELPO), World Trade Institute (WTI), Bern Switzerland, and Munster University Germany.

Dr. Saeed has a strong interest in public service activities. He is one of the founding members of ‘Akhuwat’, an interest free microfinance organization working for poverty alleviation and empowerment of women in Pakistan and President of ‘Akhuwat Switzerland’. He is also a founding member and member of the Board of Trustees of the ‘Friends of Education Trust’, which has been successfully running school of legal education in Pakistan for the last 25 years. He has also served as a Member of the Student Government of Harvard Law School (2002), as well as on many other governing bodies of various academic and professional development institutions.

Dr. Saeed obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the University of London (2008) and a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard Kennedy School (2002), he also holds a postgraduate diploma in Economic Principles from the University of London (1998) and has completed one year study and research International Tax Program of specialized training in Tax Policy and Administration from Harvard Law School (2002). One of the major reasons for Dr. Saeed’s being a team player that blends in well stems from his communication skills and understanding of human nature has been the fact that he studied human anatomy, physiology and psychology to earn his basic degree in Medicine (MBBS -1982).  

Selected Publications:

• “Implementing an Investment Facilitation Framework for Development: Lessons from the Trade Facilitation Agreement” Columbia FDI Perspectives No. 322, January 2022.
• The ‘Rights’ of the Private Sector in the Trade Facilitation Agreement”,Trade, Law and    Development Journal, Vol. XI, No. 1(2019)
• “Global Value Chain structures in ASEM Region”Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (2019)
• “Facilitating international movement of goods via Blockchain could become a reality”, International Trade Forum (March 2018)
• “Unlocking the physical and procedural barriers of digital trade”, International Trade Forum (July 2017)
• “Making the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement work better for the Private sector”, UNCTAD Transport and Trade Facilitation Newsletter N°70 (2016)
• “The Role of Trade; Asia-Europe Connectivity Vision 2025: Challenges and Opportunities” Jakarta: ERIA, (2016)
• 2050: “Border Controls – the evolution of trade facilitation”, Shipping Network, Institute of chartered Shipbrokers, Issue 37 (2014)
• WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement- implications for trade policy formulation of Pakistan”, Lahore Journal of Economics, Vol 19 SE (2014).