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Chiedu Osakwe
Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe is a Nigerian diplomat and Director-General of the Nigeria Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN) cum Nigeria's Chief Trade Negotiator. The Federal Government of Nigeria appointed him on 6th June, 2017. He is a Trade Adviser to the Nigerian Economic Management Team (EMT). Ambassador Osakwe is a member of the Nigerian “Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council”. He served as the Chairman of the Negotiating Forum (NF) and Senior Trade Officials (STOs), for the negotiations on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), from June 2017 until March 2018, during which he led the AfCFTA Negotiating Institutions to finalize Stage I, of the AfCFTA Negotiations (on Trade in Goods and Services), for signature by African Heads of State and Government. Ambassador Osakwe is Nigeria's Lead Negotiator on the Reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Education
Ambassador Osakwe holds a BSc in Politics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, an MA and PhD in Politics from New York University and, a diploma from the University of Oxford Foreign Service Programme.

Career
Ambassador Osakwe is an Associate Professor on International Trade Policy, Diplomacy and Negotiations (on a leave of absence) at the International University in Geneva (IUG), since 2016. He has lectured globally and published extensively in peer reviewed journals on a range of subjects, including trade policy; fiscal and monetary policies; and, structural reforms. He has written on developing countries in the global economy and nation-building in Nigeria. He is highly regarded for his knowledge and practice of trade policy, globally, in the WTO where his spent 19 years and, is respected in the AfCFTA Negotiating Institutions of the African Union (AU).

WTO Secretariat Positions (1995-2017)

As Nigerian Delegate, Ambassador Osakwe served as Chairman of the Committee on Rules of Origin (1995-1997) and of the Working Party on Pre-shipment Inspection (1997-1998).

As a Staff Member of the WTO Secretariat, Ambassador Osakwe served in several senior positions (1998-2017), including: Counsellor, Development Division; Head, Secretariat Working Group on the Integrated Framework and LDCs, Office of the Director-General; Chairman Inter-Agency Working Group for the Integrated Framework – IAWG; Director, Technical Cooperation Division; Director, Textiles Division; Director, Doha Development Agenda Special Duties Division; Director, Accessions Division (2009-2017); and, Chairman of the WTO Informal Group on Accessions – IGA.

Nigerian Foreign Service Positions (1979 to 1998)

Ambassador Osakwe served as a Nigerian Foreign Service Officer from 23 July 1979 to 4 May 1998. During this period, he served in various capacities. At the headquarters of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lagos and then Abuja, he worked in the American and Caribbean Affairs Department; Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations in New York (1983-1986); Second United Nations Department of the International Organizations Directorate; Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva - UNOG and GATT/WTO.

As a Nigerian diplomat, Ambassador has held a number of international positions. At the Permanent Mission in New York, he was Chairman of the UN Sub-Committee on the Legal Aspects of the Struggle against Apartheid (1984-1986).