Pascal Lamy is a veteran practitioner of European politics and International trade having led the WTO as Director-General and served as a European Commissioner for trade. He currently holds the record as the longest serving WTO Director-General having been unanimously re-elected by the WTO General Council for a second four year term in 2009.

Pascal began his career in the French Civil service, where he became an advisor to the then Finance Minister, Jaques Delors and subsequently Pierre Mauroy. From 1985 to 1994, Pascal Lamy was Chief of Staff for the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, and his representative in the G7.

Before taking up this position, Pascal served a five year term as the European Commissioner for trade. In November 1994, Pascal joined the team in charge of rescuing Credit Lyonnais, and later became CEO of the bank until its privatisation in 1999.

Pascal Lamy is currently Chair of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, which recently published the “Now for the Long Term” report. The product of a year long process of research and debate undertaken by a group of eminent global leaders, it identifies the key megatrends that will shape the 21st century, the challenges they present to future generations, and suggests measures that we can take to meet these challenges.

He has recently published “The Geneva Consensus: Making Trade Work For All” (Cambridge University Press, 2013), which highlights the vital role that free trade and open markets play in generating global economic growth, itself a key condition for reducing poverty and creating jobs around the world.