Sven Callebaut

Sven is a senior adviser on trade, digital trade and e-commerce for Governments in Asia and the Pacific. He advises and guides Government leaders, donors, and regional organizations in Southeast Asia, mostly for Australian DFAT, the WTO and UN agencies. After a 13-year career as a trade adviser for UNCTAD, he went freelance and advised several Government ministries -in particular in Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu in accelerating their economic transformation, export diversification, digital transition, digital trade adoption.

Sven has served as an international trade adviser (part-time) to the Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia since 2003, in different capacities. He was part of the team supporting Cambodia’s WTO accession, was the UNCTAD resident adviser for Cambodia and Laos in 2003-2008, team leader for the Cambodia Trade Strategy 2019-2023. He has advised three different ministers on trade policy, cross-border digital trade and trade integration. From 2017 to 2020, Sven also advised the Department of Trade, Ministry of Commerce of the Union of Myanmar.

Sven was a team leader or e-commerce counsellors on several digital trade related projects funded by Australian DFAT in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, such as those under the E-commerce Aid-for Trade Fund (Rounds 1 and 2), the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Programme (AADCP) and the Capacity building programme for Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar (implemented by ERIA). Most recently, he partnered with the Digital Asia Accelerator funded by USAID for enhancing digital transformation in targeted ASEAN Member States.

Sven has strong academic and solid professional background – Master in International Economics from Sorbonne University in Paris and Diploma in Mastering Trade Policy from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. Sven has been living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia since November 2003.