Dr Ratnakar Adhikari has been serving the Executive Secretariat for the EIF at the WTO as its Executive Director since October 2013. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Director of South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment, a Kathmandu-based regional think-tank. Previously he served, among others, as a Senior Adviser to the National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal, and as Trade Programme Specialist for UNDP, Asia Pacific Regional Centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dr Adhikari has conducted extensive research as well as published in the areas of international trade, regional economic integration, Aid for Trade, competition policy and intellectual property rights, particularly from the perspective of the least developed countries. He obtained his PhD from the University of Warwick, UK; his Masters of International Law and Economics from the World Trade Institute, Switzerland; and his Masters of Commerce from the University of Delhi, India.