Martien van Nieuwkoop, Global Director of Agriculture and Food Global Practice, World Bank will join Pawan Agarwal, Special Secretary, Logistics, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and previously the CEO of the Food Safety and Standards Authority India to talk about India’s experience with improving food safety.  The discussion will be moderated by Lystra N. Antoine, CEO of the Global Food Safety Partnership.  

Speakers

Pawan Kumar Agarwal

Beginning his civil service career in 1985 as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the West Bengal Cadre, Pawan Kumar Agarwal currently serves as the Special Secretary (Logistics) of the Department of Commerce for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Prior to his appointment as Special Secretary, Mr. Agarwal was the CEO of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) where he led the country’s transformation of food safety and nutrition standards. He continues to be associated with food transformation as honorary adviser for the Eat Right Foundation, a public charity that is promoting eating right for better lives on a better planet. Earlier in his career, he served as the Joint Secretary for India’s Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, advisor for the Higher Education and Culture in the Planning Commission, director in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, and Financial Advisor in the University Grants Commission of India. In addition to his roles in various ministries, Mr. Agarwal has extensive experience in higher education research. He was a Fulbright New Century Scholar at Harvard University and Emory University, visiting scholar at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), and fellow at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne.

 Martien van Nieuwkoop

Martien van Nieuwkoop is the current Global Director for the Agriculture and Food Global Practice of the World Bank. He joined the World Bank in 1993 through the Young Professional Program as an agriculture economist in the Latin-America and Caribbean Region. In his over 26-year career at the World Bank, Martien has served as Practice Director of the World Bank’s Agriculture Global Practice, Practice Manager for Agriculture in the South-Asia Region, Program Coordinator and Sector Manager for Agriculture in the Africa Region, and many other instrumental roles throughout the East-Asia Pacific, Latin-America and the Caribbean, and South Asia Regions. Prior to joining the Bank, Martien was an associate scientist in the Economics Program of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico and an associate expert in the Dutch bilateral cooperation program in Pakistan. Martien holds a Final ("Doctoraal") Examination (Cum Laude) in Development Economics from the Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands and an MBA from Georgetown University.

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Call-in number: 1-650-479-3207 Access code: 160 465 7820