Trade Policy Day 2025

• Date: 20/11/2025, 09:00-17:00
• Location: Hybrid - in the Charlemagne Building (Alcide de Gasperi room), European Commission; and on WEBEX 

In today’s fast-moving geopolitical context – characterised by the need to respond to economic pressure and security threats, and to develop the technologies that deliver on the objectives of the clean energy and digital transitions – the EU’s core policy objectives centre on competitiveness, security and sustainability. 

Join us for the 2025 edition of our Trade Policy Day, to discuss how trade policy enables the EU to attain these core objectives in various ways.  

The day’s policy discussions will focus on: 

• Pursuing new alliances to help extend the EU’s network of trusted trade partners.
• Empowering EU industry to help improve our external competitiveness from within.
• Protecting EU industry from external threats to their economic security, and making their global supply chains more resilient.   

Register here

Programme

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08:00-09:00 | Registration

09:00-09:15 | Welcome 

• By moderator - Shona Murray, Euronews

09:15-09:30 | Keynote: Why trade still matters

• Maroš Šefčovič, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security
  • with Shona Murray, Euronews

09:30-11:00 | Panel 1: The value of partnerships and alliances: Extending the EU’s trade network in a turbulent world

• Maria Martin Prat, Deputy Director-General, DG Trade and Economic Security
• Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva, Ambassador of Brazil to the European Union
• Allan Gepty, Undersecretary, Department of Trade and Industry (Philippines)
• Petter Ølberg, Ambassador of Norway to the WTO, Facilitator for WTO Reform
• Bernd Lange MEP, Chair of the Committee on International Trade, European Parliament

11:00-11:30 | Break

11:30-13:00 | Panel 2: Powering EU industry: driving external competitiveness from the inside

• VIDEO MESSAGE: Enrico Letta, IE University, and former Prime Minister of Italy
• Leopoldo Rubinacci, Deputy Director-General, DG Trade and Economic Security
• Javier Ormazabal Echevarria, President, ORGALIM and CEO, Velatia
• Henrik Andersen, Group President and CEO, Vestas Wind Systems A/S
• Antonio Marcegaglia, President and CEO, Marcegaglia Steel
• Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary, industriAll Europe

13:00-14:30 | Networking Lunch

14:30-15:45 | Panel 3: The need for Economic Security: navigating challenges that affect us and our businesses

• Denis Redonnet, Deputy Director-General, DG Trade and Economic Security
• John Harrison, General Counsel and Head of Public Affairs, Airbus
• Kozo Saiki, Special Adviser, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan
• Michael Lund Jeppesen, Director for Economic Security, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Debora Revoltella, Chief Economist, European Investment Bank

15:45-16:00 | Break

16:00 | Closing Remarks

• Sabine Weyand, Director-General, DG Trade and Economic Security

16:30 | End of Programme

Access details

This is a hybrid meeting. We would be grateful if participants could arrive 30 minutes in advance. There will be a welcome desk in the security screening area of the Charlemagne building where IDs will be checked for security clearance and identification badges will be handed out. Please bring with you the confirmation of your V-pass and an ID card or passport.

The web-streaming link and access code will be sent to registered participants.

Speaker Biographies 

Henrik Andersen 

Henrik Andersen is group president and CEO of Vestas. Over the past 25 years, he has held executive roles at Hempel and ISS, and currently serves on several boards, including Saxo Bank and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Since joining Vestas in 2019, Henrik has advocated globally for the transition to a more affordable, secure, and sustainable energy system. Under his leadership, Vestas has strengthened its position as the largest global supplier of wind energy through an expanded footprint and order backlog.  

Allan B. Gepty

Allan B. Gepty is assistant secretary for industry development and trade policy at the Philippines' Department of Trade and Industry,  where he supervises the Bureau of International Trade Relations, the Bureau of Import Services, and the Strategic Trade Management Office. He is the Philippines' senior economic official at ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). He also served as the country's chief trade negotiator for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, considered to be the largest free trade deal in the world. He is a lawyer by profession with diverse experience in international trade, intellectual property, public international law, commercial law, and litigation.

John Harrison

John Harrison has been general counsel and corporate secretary at Airbus – and a member of the Airbus Executive Committee – since June 2015. He has served as chairman of Airbus UK since January 2019, and as head public affairs at Airbus since January 2024. He began his career in 1991 at international law firm Clifford Chance, working consecutively in their London, New York and Paris offices. He joined Airbus (then EADS) in 1997, fulfilling various senior legal positions in Airbus companies over a ten-year period, culminating in his tenure from 2003 to 2007 as General Counsel of the EADS Defence Division. He then joined TechnipFMC where he served as Group General Counsel and a member of the Group Executive Committee from 2007 to 2015, before he returned to Airbus in June 2015.

Judith Kirton-Darling

Judith Kirton-Darling is general secretary at industriAll Europe, a federation of independent and democratic trade unions representing manual and non-manual workers in the metal, chemical, energy, mining, textile, clothing and footwear sectors and related industries and activities.

Bernd Lange

Bernd Lange is a Member of the European Parliament for Germany. He chairs the Committee on International Trade in the European Parliament. He is also chair of the Parliament's Conference of Committee Chairs, a governing body that coordinates the work of parliamentary committees and ensures their smooth cooperation. In honour of his political work, he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2001. 

Enrico Letta

Enrico Letta served as prime minister of Italy from 2013 to 2014. He is currently dean of the IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs at IE University, president of the Jacques Delors Institute, and president of AREL. In September 2023, he was tasked by the EU with producing a report on the future of the Single Market. From March 2021 to February 2023, he was national secretary of the Democratic Party in Italy. Prior to that, from 2015 to 2021, he was dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po Paris. Earlier in his career, Letta served as Italy's minister for EU affairs (1998–1999), minister for industry, trade and crafts (2000), minister for industry and foreign trade (2000–2001), and undersecretary of state to Prime Minister Romano Prodi (2006–2008).

Michael Lund Jeppesen

Michael Lund Jeppesen is director for economic security at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His has previously served as ambassador for the EU’s foreign and security policy at the Danish Representation to the EU, as ambassador of Denmark to Afghanistan, as chief adviser to the Danish Prime Minister’s Office, and as ambassador of Denmark to Morocco, Tunisia and Mauretania. 

Antonio Marcegaglia

Antonio Marcegaglia is president and CEO of Marcegaglia Steel, and all the group's subsidiaries that operate in the steel-processing sector. He is vice-president and CEO of Marcegaglia Holding. He is vice-president of Federacciai, the Confindustria association that brings together Italian steel companies. He is also a member of ESPA (the European Steel Processors' Association), the European association that brings together steel processors.

Maria Martin-Prat

Maria Martin-Prat is deputy director-general in the Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security at the European Commission. She is currently responsible for Asia, the Pacific, Africa, and the Caribbean. She is also responsible for trade-related issues concerning sustainable development and the Green Deal, services and digital trade, investment, and intellectual property.

Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva

Ambassador Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva has been head of the Brazilian Mission to the European Union since August 2022. Previously, he was Secretary for the Americas at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry (2019-2022), in which capacity he was also chief negotiator for the EU-Mercosur Association Agreement, national coordinator for MERCOSUR and coordinator of the National Commission of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization. A career diplomat since 1991, Ambassador da Costa e Silva has occupied a number of other positions in Brasília, including director of the Economic Department and advisor to the president of Brazil.

Petter Ølberg

Petter Ølberg is a distinguished Norwegian diplomat with over three decades of extensive international experience. Since 2022, he has served as Norway’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). From 2024-2025 he was the chair of the WTO General Council.  

Javier Ormazabal Echevarria

Javier Ormazabal Echevarria is president of Orgalim, an association representing Europe's technology industries, and CEO of Velatia, a group of companies that provide solutions for electric networks, smart grids, engineering, aeronautics and energy services. He sits on the the governing bodies of companies, associations and institutions of recognised prestige, such as the BBVA Northern Regional Advisory Board, the Novia Salcedo Foundation, and the Alejandro Echevarría Foundation. He studied Economics and Business Sciences at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), and also studied at the London Business School and the IESE Business School.

Denis Redonnet

Denis Redonnet is deputy director-general in the Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security at the European Commission. After joining the Commission in 1995, he worked in the Directorate-General for the Internal Market and DG ECFIN before moving to the cabinets of former EU trade commissioners Pascal Lamy and Peter Mandelson. His academic background includes qualifications from the University of Paris IX, the Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris, and the College of Europe in Bruges.

Debora Revoltella 

Debora Revoltella is director of the economics department at the European Investment Bank, serving as chief economist. Since her arrival in 2011, Debora has designed and led the work for flagship publications such as the EIB Investment Report. She holds a degree in Economics and a master's degree in Economics from Bocconi University, and a PhD in Economics from the University of Ancona, Italy.

Leopoldo Rubinacci

Leopoldo Rubinacci is deputy director-general in the Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security at the European Commission. He oversees EU trade relations with the Americas and with the EU's neighbouring countries, as well as trade aspects of agriculture and food safety, trade in goods – including raw materials, energy, and regulatory co-operation - and trade aspects of public procurement. He joined the Commission in 1995, working in what is now DG Environment, before moving to DG Trade in 1997. 

Kozo Saiki

Kozo Saiki is a special adviser at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan. He also serves as director-general of the Brussels-based Japan Machinery Center for Trade and Investment. Saiki was appointed executive secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the youngest in Japanese history. He served in the  Japanese Prime Minister’s Office for over ten years in total, from 2013-2020 and from 2006-2009. He played a crucial role in advising Prime Minister Abe on industrial policy, trade policy, technology policy, energy policy, and climate policy.

Maroš Šefčovič 

Maroš Šefčovič is the European commissioner for trade and economic security. He is tasked with designing and implementing a free and fair trade policy that enables Europe to reach its competitiveness, security and sustainability goals. He is also the commissioner responsible for interinstitutional relations and transparency. 

Sabine Weyand

Sabine Weyand is director-general of in the Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security at the European Commission. She began working for the Commission in 1994, and joined DG Trade as deputy director-general in 2016, covering multilateral trade policy, trade relations with North America and European Neighbourhood countries, and trade defence. She holds an MA degree in political science and economics from the University of Freiburg, a Master's degree from the College of Europe, and a Ph.D. from the University of Tübingen.