Vikas Choudhary is Senior Economist at the World Bank, based in Jakarta, and leading the agricultural work program in Indonesia and Timor Leste. Prior to this, he was based in Ethiopia and led the agriculture team working in Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Eritrea. His interest areas are the food systems approach, climate-smart agriculture, value chains, and agribusiness development, digital disruption in agriculture, resilience, and agriculture and rural development policy reforms.

Dr. Elliott Grant is a recognized business leader and innovator in food and ag tech. He is the General Manager of Mineral at X, Alphabet’s “Moonshot Factory.” The mineral is using machine learning (ML) and robotics to scale sustainable agriculture globally. He was the founder and CEO of HarvestMark, the world leader in fresh food traceability (acquired by Trimble); the CEO of ShopWell, a personalized nutrition company; and served as the Vice-Chair of the Produce Marketing Association, a global industry organization, and chaired its Science & Technology Committee.

Ms. Gitanjali Sah is an experienced International Civil Servant and has worked with several United Nations Organizations like ITU, UNESCO, and UNDP in the field of ICT on Development related policy and implementation issues at an international, regional, and national level. At present, she is working with the International Telecommunication Union as the Coordinator of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process.

Serial successful entrepreneur, a philanthropist, experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the retail industry. Skilled in Marketing Management, Negotiation, Budgeting, Business Planning, Distribution, and Retail. Strong business development professional with a Master’s Degree in Mathematics from Tashkent State University.

Mr. Cao Đức Phát is currently a Member of the Central Council for Theoretic Studies, Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Vietnam Agriculture University, and Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Rice Research Institute.

From 2016 to 2021, he was the Permanent Deputy Chair of the Central Economic Commission after having served as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam from 2004 to 2016. In 2003, he was Deputy Secretary of An Giang Provincial Committee of CPV.

Yutaka used to be the Vice-Minister for International Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan. She joined it in April 1987. Some of the positions she held was detailed below:
• April 1987 Joined Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries(MAFF)
• October 2006 Director, Labelling and Standards Division, Food Safety and Consumer Affairs Bureau
• May 2009 Director, Food Industry Policy Division, General Food Policy Bureau
• September 2011 Director, Food Industrial Innovation Division, Food Industry Affairs Bureau

He is responsible for developing and managing the operations that IFAD supports through its loans and grants. He oversees the program of work of the department, which is undertaken by five Regional Divisions and the Operational Policy and Results Division.

Shiulie Ghosh is an award-winning journalist and TV anchor and has worked for some of best-known names in the news industry including the BBC, ITV, TRT World and Aljazeera. As one of the main faces of Aljazeera English, she launched the international channel in Qatar in 2006, and over the next decade helped it expand to over 100 countries. In a career spanning more than thirty years, Shiulie has covered some of the world’s top stories and interviewed decision-makers and global leaders. She is also the owner and director of a media services company, Aero Productions Ltd.