Speaker details

Biography

Beatrice Chaytor is an international trade lawyer, called to the Bar in England and Wales as well as Sierra Leone, with around 30 years experience in providing advice and support to African governments in their engagement with regional and international trade policy processes. She is currently Head of Trade in Services in the AfCFTA Secretariat, and works on the negotiations and implementation of the Agreement on establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Ms Chaytor has previously run her own law firm, Chariot Eight in Freetown, Sierra Leone, providing legal services to local, regional and international clients on a range of corporate law matters including trade, investment, natural resources and environment. From 2008 to 2010, she worked with the International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP) in providing capacity building support to a number of African regions in their negotiations with the European Union on trade in services under the EPAs, and in defining solutions and strategies for African countries’ needs on Aid for Trade. From 2004 to 2008, Beatrice Chaytor was a Senior Trade Policy Advisor in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Sierra Leone, on assignment by the Commonwealth Secretariat. Prior to her assignment in Sierra Leone, Beatrice worked for nine years as Senior Lawyer, and then Programme Director, at the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD) in London, building capacity among developing country negotiators at the World Trade Organisation. Ms Chaytor is interested in research and analysis on a range of legal and economic policy issues affecting Africa. She has undertaken assignments for DFID, the European Union Commission, and the UN FAO. She also has private sector interests in horticulture, packaging, design and well-being.