Associates

Sacha Silva, MSc

Sacha is a trade economist with ten years’ experience advising clients on the development implications of trade policy, both in terms of theory/analysis and practical implementation.

His skills-set include formulating negotiation positions, mobilizing stakeholders, and consensus-building, and his areas of expertise include trade in agricultural and non-agricultural goods, regional trade agreements (particularly the EPAs) and the policy issues surrounding small states in the global trading system.

Projects & Cases : 

Current or recent engagements include:

  • Technical advisor to CARIFORUM EU-EPA negotiating team, managing all aspects of goods offer
  • Co-author of major ADB-Commonwealth study on the future of Pacific regional integration
  • Author of several revenue/welfare impact studies of North-South FTAs on the Caribbean and Pacific Islands
  • Author and speaker at specialist workshops on the effectiveness of development financing instruments, including Aid-for-Trade 
  • Author of several studies on developing country responses to preference erosion, including the emergence of the Fairtrade movement
Publications & Appearances: 
  • “Plurilateral Financial Standards and their Regulation: The Experience of Small Developing States”, co-authored with Dr. Roman Grynberg and Jan Yves Remy (Commonwealth Secretariat), Journal of World Investment, Vol. 5 No. 3, June 2004.
  • “Toward A New Pacific Regionalism,” co-authored with Dr. Roman Grynberg. Asian Development Bank (published as part of the Pacific Study Series)
  • “The European Investment Bank and the ACP Countries: An Effective Partnership?” Published in Navigating New Waters: A Reader on ACP-EU Trade Relations (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2006). 
  • “Preference-Dependent Economies and Multilateral Liberalization: Impacts and Options”, co-authored with Dr. Roman Grynberg for Commonwealth Secretariat as part of the “Stiglitz Plan” by Prof. Joseph Stiglitz. Published in full in Navigating New Waters: A Reader on ACP-EU Trade Relations (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2006); Subject of Bloomberg UK feature article, “Former U.K. Colonies to Suffer as Quotas End, Commonwealth Says”, February 28 2005.
  • “Where Have All the Banana Workers Gone?: The Growth of Services in Grenada,” commissioned by WTO and Institute for International Trade at University of Adelaide, forthcoming in WTO/IIT textbook on Studies on Trade and Poverty Reduction in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Background & Languages: 

Sacha holds joint US and Canadian citizenship. He studied at the University of California at Berkely (BA, Hons) and at the London School of Economics (MSc), with a semester study at the Delhi School of Economics. Before joining WTI Advisors, he was a consultant to both the United Nations and several regional organizations in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions.

Sacha speaks, reads and writes fluently in his native English, and fluently reads and speaks both French and Spanish.