Cédric Pène

Cédric Pène is a counsellor at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and an advisory member of the Jameel Index for Food Trade and Vulnerability, a research project launched by the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is developing a comprehensive index addressing countries’ food security vulnerability, dependence on global food trade and how regional-scale threats might affect the ability to trade food goods across diverse geographic regions.

Having joined the WTO in 2010, Cédric has been co-secretary of the WTO committee on agriculture in special session since 2017 in which capacity he is responsible for agriculture negotiations, and more specifically export competition, export restrictions and cotton trade-related aspects. He has had key involvement in the preparation and implementation of the Bali 2013 MC9 and Nairobi 2015 MC10 Ministerial outcomes on cotton and export competition, as well as the Geneva 2022 MC12 Ministerial outcomes on the Emergency Response to Food Insecurity, and World Food Programme Food Purchase Exemption from Export Restrictions.

Over his career, Cédric has been actively involved in WTO work related to food security, including the creation of the Agricultural Market Information System in 2012. An engineer by background, Cédric graduated from the French Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Environmental Engineering and Ecole Centrale Paris. He also holds a master’s in micro-economics and decision-making sciences from the Ecole National Supérieure de Cachan.