Nicolas Imboden

President and Partner

Mr Nicolas Imboden, a Swiss national, graduated in law at the University of Geneva, holds a degree in development studies from the African Development Institute; a M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston and was an AMP student at Harvard. He is partner and co-founder of IDEAS Centre. Since the organisation’s creation in 2002, he directs and provides high-level advice in all projects: assistance in accession/post-accession, trade policy advice (WTO, regional integration, bilateral trade agreement), trade-related capacity-building, training and assistance. Mr Imboden was previously Senior Vice President of SGS (1999-2002), a Swiss Government trade and aid official with the rank of an ambassador (1992-1999), Governor of the regional development banks (ADB, AFDB, IDB) and Executive Director at the EBRD (1992). He was the Swiss negotiator for market access and agriculture during the Uruguay Round negotiations (1987-1992). He also worked in the World Bank (1978-1982 as Agricultural Economist), OECD (1974-1978 as Researcher on aid monitoring) and UNDP (1972-1974 as Program Officer in Chad). He has been a member of various expert groups of the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and of the UNDP Human Development Report.

+41 79 238 83 64

 

nicolas.imboden@ideascentre.ch

 

Clemens Boonekamp

Partner

Clemens Boonekamp was Director of the Agriculture Division of the WTO from 2009 to 2012. He was Secretary to the Agriculture negotiations in the DDA; representative to the G20 on agriculture; responsible for the secretariat for the WTO’s Committee on Agriculture, on SPS and on the STDF. Prior to this position, he was Director of Trade Policies Review from 1998 to 2009: Secretary to the Trade Policies Review Body; directed some 150 Trade Policy Reports of WTO Members; oversaw work, including for the DDA negotiations, on Regional Trade Agreements. From 1991 to 1998, he was Counsellor, Trade Policies Review and External Relations; drafted and supervised Trade Policy reports ; negotiated the WTO Agreements with the IMF and World Bank Before joining WTO, Mr Boonekamp was at the International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C.  USA. He Participated in Article IV consultations and in programme negotiations, especially on balance of payments ( including financing gaps and external debt) and trade issues; represented the IMF at the GATT (now the WTO); and wrote a number papers for the IMF Board and publications, including on the Uruguay Round, Industrial Policies , and VERs. He was also teacher and researcher at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

+41 79 430 82 02

 

clemens.boonekamp@ideascentre.ch

 

Josip Pervan

Director of Policy and Programmes

Mr Josip Pervan holds a MA degree in business economics from the Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria. After finishing his studies he joined the Ministry of Economy of Croatia where he participated in completion of Croatian WTO accession negotiations. Later on he worked as a part of the team at the Ministry of European Integration of Croatia that concluded negotiations on the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between Croatia and the EU. Between 2002 and 2007 he served as a trade diplomat at the Mission in Geneva representing Croatian interests at the multilateral level. As a leader of two negotiating groupings at the WTO and WIPO he articulated and advocated specific interests of developing and transition economies. In WIPO, he coordinated the Regional Group of Central European and Baltic States, while in the WTO he served as a long-term leader of the Recently Acceded Members (RAMs). At IDEAS Centre Josip is providing targeted trade policy and negotiating advice to Governments of LDCs, developing and transition economies but also managing projects and developing project proposals. Josip has also published articles and analyses on issues concerning international trade in Croatian business weekly magazine and in the Bulletin of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce.

+41 76 421 96 00

 

josip.pervan@ideascentre.ch

 

Iva Drobnjak

Senior Policy Advisor

Ms Iva Drobnjak holds a MA degree in International Economics from Belgrade University, Serbia. She started her career working for USAID as Economic Advisor on the WTO accession for Serbia and Montenegro, and also as a Specialist on the accession project for Ukraine. She then became Senior Economic Advisor with SEGA (Serbian economic Growth Activity), where she provided advice in policy formulation as well as project management for the accession of Serbia to WTO. After a short period as Economic Advisor for the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development of the Republic of Serbia, she returned to USAID as Senior Policy Advisor, working on legal reforms for Serbia, followed by an assignment as Economic Consultant assisting the Government of Serbia. Recently, Iva has acted as Customs and Trade Expert for a multinational company, Economic Consultant on the CEFTA Trade Portal and worked for the International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, as a Trade Logistics Consultant for the Western Balkans project. She joined IDEAS Centre in 2013 as a Policy Advisor in which capacity she provides trade policy advice and technical assistance to developing and least developed countries in accession negotiations, post-accession process and DDA negotiations.

+381 63 7774 315

iva.drobnjak@ideascentre.ch

 

Leonila Guglya

Policy Advisor

Ms Leonila Guglya has extensive academic and practical background in international law domain, focusing on the international trade law, international business law and international dispute settlement. In November 2017 she defended her PhD thesis entitled “Progressive Development of the WTO Accessions: The influence of the commitments undertaken by the new Members on the Single [Legal] Undertaking” with a summa cum laude mention at the University of Geneva (the manuscript is now awaiting final revisions). In June 2010, Leonila has also obtained an SJD summa cum laude degree from Central European University (CEU) with the thesis devoted to the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards under Art. V(1) of the New York Convention. Her doctoral studies were preceded by the three graduate degrees in law, from (chronologically) the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” (Ukraine); CEU (US/Hungary) and University of Geneva Law School and Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Switzerland). After starting her legal career as an in-house counsel in Ukraine, at varied periods in time she has worked with several international law firms, was acting as a research associate for the interdisciplinary international investment arbitration project at the University of Geneva, was a visiting researcher and, later, a doctoral fellow at the WTO, and had a wide range of academic engagements, predominantly in Hungary and Switzerland. Leonila authored publications on international law, policy and dispute settlement topics and is a frequent participant in international law symposia devoted to the same issues.

+41 76 493 27 97

 

leonila.guglya@ideascentre.ch

 

Gaëlle Dubois

Financial Planning & Controlling Manager

Mrs. Gaëlle Dubois holds a Master diploma in business and finance from La Rochelle Business School of Management, France. After finishing her studies she had five years of professional experience in the UK as part of multinational companies’ finance teams, such as Procter & Gamble, where she acquired knowledge and experience in accounting working closely with European subsidiaries.

In the UK, Gaëlle also part qualified for Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA), after which she moved on to be European Financial Analyst at the European headquarters of CR Bard LTD, an international pharmaceutical company.

In Switzerland, Gaëlle joined a trading company where she engaged in the reporting and budgeting activities of the accounting team, where she stayed for more than three years.

Since 2016 at Ideas Centre, Gaëlle is in charge of financial-related matters, budget planning and monitoring for projects funded by various donors, internal accounting of the association, and serves as a main contact for projects’ audits, annual audits and VAT controls. Gaëlle also manages daily administrative and human resources matters.

+33 6 78 33 20 78

 

gaelle.dubois@ideascentre.ch