International trade expert to deliver Diplomat's Forum lecture at KU
LAWRENCE – An authority on international trade will deliver the 2011 Diplomat’s Forum lecture this week at the University of Kansas School of Law.
Anthony Amunategui Abad, CEO and managing director of TA Trade Advisory Services in the Philippines, will give a talk on "Developments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its Emerging Network of Free Trade Agreements" at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Stinson Morrison Hecker Lecture Hall, 104 Green Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.
“Anthony Abad is one of the world’s leading international trade lawyers, speaking about one of the world’s leading trade issues at KU Law's most prestigious international law lecture,” said Raj Bhala, associate dean for international and comparative law and Rice Distinguished Professor.
“Tony has served the government of the Philippines in senior international trade positions and as a dispute settlement panelist for the World Trade Organization. His lecture is on regional trade integration in the Far East, a pressing topic with interdisciplinary implications given the failure of the decade-old WTO Doha Round and recent American efforts to forge a Trans-Pacific Partnership.”
Abad is a lecturer on international economic law at the Ateneo de Manila Law School and a member of the Philippine Bar who has been in legal practice for more than 16 years. As head of TA Trade Advisory Services, he oversees a firm that specializes in international trade law and providing technical advice and assistance to multinational corporations and business enterprises, international organizations, and government and academic institutions on matters of international trade policy and regulation, competition law and policy, and good governance.
He also serves as an independent policy adviser to the Secretary of Agriculture and to the Philippine Senate.
Prior to founding TA, Abad was president and CEO of the Philippine International Trading Corporation. He was also appointed by the president as commissioner of the Tariff Commission, administrator of the National Food Authority, and chairman and president of the Food Terminal Inc. Abad also consulted the National Security Council.
Abad received his master’s in public administration from Harvard University, where he was also a Mason Fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development. He earned his law degree and a bachelor’s in economics from the Ateneo de Manila University.
A seasoned speaker on international trade law and competition policy, Abad has authored books and prepared studies and articles for various organizations, including the World Bank, US-AID, The Asia Foundation, the Asian Institute of Management and PDP Australia.
The Diplomat’s Forum is the law school’s most prestigious annual international and comparative law event. Its aim is to provide a platform for an open sharing of thoughts on international law and relations and the United States through the unique perspective of an insightful professional with notable diplomatic experience in the service of a foreign government.