Rolf TRAEGER

Rolf Traeger was the Chief of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Section of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) until 2026. He was for 20 years the lead author and coordinator of UNCTAD’s The Least Developed Countries Report, which is the reference series on the development policies and challenges of LDCs. He also managed the research and writing of the Vulnerability Profiles series on the LDCs prequalified for graduation out of the LDC category. He coordinated joint activities with other international organizations such as WTO, OECD, UNIDO, ITC and UN Regional Commissions. He worked at the United Nations for 35 years, in UNCTAD and in the Economic Commission for Europe.

He managed projects of technical assistance on development policies directed at governments and policymakers of developing countries. Based on his research work, he undertook capacity-building and training activities for government officials, researchers and students in both the public sector and in academic institutions of Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Latin America. He has also developed an academic career, having taught for more than 25 years in Universities in Switzerland, France, Italy, Portugal, Nepal and Senegal.

His main topics of work and research are: sustainable development strategies and policies, international trade, least developed countries, structural transformation, STI (science, technology and innovation), poverty, and the environment-development nexus. He holds a PhD in economics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva) and a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Public Affairs from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in São Paulo (Brazil), and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of São Paulo (Brazil).