Francesco Abbate

Present position

• Adjunct Professor of International Economics, Law Department, Turin University.
• Adjunct Professor of International Economics, Unicollege, Turin
• Senior consultant to the Asian Development Bank, European Commission and UNCTAD on formulation, implementation and evaluation of development projects and studies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and Caribbean, especially in the areas of international and regional trade policies, trade development and foreign direct investment.
  
  

Previous positions

• United Nations System Staff College, Turin. Principal Officer; coordinator of training programmes for UN system officials on national development strategies, multilateral trade liberalization, foreign direct investment.
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva.
  • Acting Director of the Trade Division; coordinator of policy-oriented and technical assistance work on WTO negotiations, accession to WTO, regional trade integration, preferential tariff schemes for developing countries, competition policy, trade and environment.
  • Chief, Development Finance Branch; promoter of initiatives for the reduction of developing country debt; UNCTAD representative to the Paris Club. 
  • Senior Economist, Commodities Division; one of the key architects of the Common Fund for Commodities. 
• World Bank, Washington, D.C. Economist and Senior Economist, Latin America and Caribbean Region; chief and member of economic missions to Brazil, Caribbean Community, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. 

Other academic and professional activities

• Adjunct Professor of Development Cooperation, University of Turin.
• Adjunct Professor of International Economics, University of Insubria, Italy.
• Visiting Research Fellow, Brown University, USA.
• Visiting Professor, Bocconi University, Milan.
• Lecturer, ILO International Training Centre, Turin.
• Consultant to Turin Municipality and Italian NGOs on local development projects.

Selected publications

• Co-author of “Aid for Trade in Asia and the Pacific: Leveraging Trade and Digital Agreements for Sustainable Development”, Asian Development Bank, July 2022.
• Co-author of “The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement - A New Paradigm In Asian Regional Cooperation”, Asian Development Bank, May 2022.
• Co-author of “Myanmar: an economy ready for takeoff”, in New Mandala, April 2016.
• Co-author of “Can decentralized cooperation improve urban solid waste management? The case of the Turin-Yangon partnership in Myanmar” in Emerging Economies, n°3, May 2016.
• Co-author of “Gains and pain as Vietnam goes global” in New Mandala, October 2016
• Co-author of “ASEAN-China trade growth: facts, factors and prospects”, in New Mandala, June 2016.
• Co-author of Impact assessment of ASEAN-Korea FTA on Vietnam’s economy, MUTRAP III, Hanoi, Vietnam, November 2010.
• “The social impact of Vietnam’s accession to WTO” in Comprehensive evaluation of the impact of increased key imports-exports and regulatory changes resulting from Vietnam’s WTO membership, C. Dordi et al, MUTRAP II, Hanoi, Vietnam, May 2008.
• “Competitiveness in Central and Eastern European countries: a comparative analysis” in Production structure, competitiveness and growth in transition countries, CIRPET, 2004 (in Italian).
• Surmonter la marginalisation: l’impératif du Mali, UNCTAD-UNDP, 2002.
• L'intégration de la Tunisie dans l'économie mondiale: opportunités et défis, UNCTAD-UNDP, 2001.
• Enhancing the international competitiveness of St. Lucia's manufacturing sector: challenges and policy options, Government of St. Lucia, 2000.
• Co-author of "Atrasos de los paises de America latina con los acreedores del Club de Paris: problemas y opciones" in Moratoria de la deuda en América Latina, O. Altimir and R. Devlin (eds.), Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1994.
• Co-author of “Official Debt Reduction: Toronto Terms, Trinidad Terms, and Netherlands Initiative” in Policies for African Development, I. G. Patel (ed.), International Monetary Fund, 1992.