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).