Evija Pudane is an Executive Director and Strategic Leader of the CLEANTECH LATVIA Clean Technology Cluster. She is responsible for organizational development, initiation of new international partnerships and mutual cooperation, as well as development of new business projects in the field of clean technologies: organic agriculture, smart urban and rural management, human capital development, planning and implementation of innovation support systems and raising funds for successful implementation of the above projects.
Evija has experience in promoting international trade and new investment projects; she was engaged in developing start-up support systems, and advising on the global business strategy development.
Her native language is Latvian. Evija is also fluent in Russian and English, and learns Spanish.

Nigmatjon Anvarov coordinates digital service of the OSCE project on agriculture in Uzbekistan. He has 3 years’ experience in the field of IT. He specializes in dealing with agricultural issues using the information technology approach. Previously, he was the head of innovation center called IUT-Lab (2016-2018), project manager in the US shipping company, Pacel-Uz (2019). Education: Inha University in Tashkent, Information and Communication Engineering.

Mr. Jovan Jekic serves as a Senior WTO/Trade Advisor for USAID’s Competitiveness, Trade and Jobs (CTJ) in Central Asia Activity, based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He is a senior attorney with over 35 years of experience in international commercial law, intellectual property, customs rules and procedures, business regulatory environment, trade and investment policies. For the past 15 years, he has worked on donor-funded projects covering areas such as World Trade Organization (WTO) accession and business environment improvement, trade facilitation and related institutional capacity building. Mr. Jekic has worked extensively with USAID in Central Asia on economic development and trade projects. He served as the key advisor to the Minister of Economic Development and Trade in Tajikistan, on all matters related to the World Trade Organization, including fulfillment of commitments taken during the accession process, and compliance of laws and regulations with WTO rules and disciplines. He was instrumental in drafting the Post WTO Accession Action Plan, providing a detailed plan of further reform and trade liberalization in the period of five years following accession to the WTO. He also provided assistance in reorganizing the WTO Department within the Ministry and establishing a dedicated WTO Section within Tajikistan’s diplomatic mission in Geneva, Switzerland. Prior to that, for the USAID Regional Trade Liberalization and Customs Project (RTLC) in Central Asia, he led technical assistance related to WTO accession, customs reform and improved implementation of the business enabling policies in Tajikistan. Earlier, Mr. Jekic served as Chief of Party on the USAID WTO Accession Project for Serbia and Montenegro, where he played a key role in assisting Montenegro to conclude its WTO accession proceedings and bringing its foreign trade regime into full conformity with the WTO requirements. His work advanced the accession of Serbia and assisted in undertaking major legal and institutional reforms related to foreign trade regimes.

Javier Piedra serves as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Asia, where he provides oversight and management for the South and Central Asia and Technical Services portfolios, with the exception of USAID/India.
Piedra brings 35 years of private and public sector experience to USAID. He has also spent several years in Asia working on investment banking, USAID-funded credit initiatives and as a Senior Advisor on the World Bank’s Central Asia Trans-Biodiversity Project. He has 20 years combined experience living in Central Asia and Latin America.
Piedra received his master’s degree in international affairs from John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston College and attended Manufacturers Hanover Bank’s Management Training Program in Finance, Economics, and Banking. He is fluent in Russian and Spanish.

Mr. Geoff Wright is a private sector development advisor with 20 years of experience advising governments and the private sector on regulatory, trade policy and facilitation reform in emerging markets.
He began his career with New Zealand Treasury and then worked for that country’s largest investment bank. He has subsequently served in long and short-term field roles across Asia and the Middle East and is currently Chief of Party for USAID Competitiveness, Trade, and Jobs in Central Asia project, implemented by DAI. He is admitted to practice law in Australia and has masters’ degrees in law and economics.

Mr. Narbayev is a Master of Business Administration (marketing) and an international trade specialist. Не has seventeen-year experience in education and private sectors, international organizations and a government agency, including internship programs in the U.S., Malaysian and Korean trade promotion agencies.
As the Head of the Representation Offices of Kazakhstan’s export and investment agency (Kazakh Invest) in Almaty and Russia, he was involved in state-funded export development and promotion activities at both institutional and enterprise levels. Successfully implemented projects are supplies of Kazakhstani producers within the UN World Food Program and the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency’s procurement in Central Asia and Afghanistan.
Currently, Mr. Narbayev is supervising implementation of the C5+1 projects in Central Asia – Central Asia Business Competitiveness and Transport Corridors Development. The C5+1 activities, agreed by all member countries broadly, fall into two areas of activity (1) customs and phytosanitary support to governments; and (2) transport and logistics as well as export promotion activities for the private sector.

Oleksandr Khorev is a Head of Fruit-Inform Project, which is a fruit and vegetable subsidiary of APK-Inform Group of Companies that provides services to agrarian companies throughout the world and focuses on market information, market analyses and coordinating and organizing high-profile fresh produce industry events.
Oleksandr Khorev has a deep knowledge of the Ukrainian horticultural market; extensive experience in Ukrainian fruit and vegetable value chain analysis; organization of business events for professionals.