NAKATOMI Michitaka

International Economy, Trade Law, Trade Policy, Intellectual Property and International Standards, Investment Policy, Technology Policy, Digital Economy, Global Value Chains, Industrial Policy

• Case Studies and Future Directions of the Global Trading System and Governance (October 25, 2011 - July 31, 2012 )

1977 Bachelor of Law, the University of Tokyo

2011-present Special advisor to JETRO
2011-2012 Principal Trade Negotiator, METI
2008 President, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)
2006 Director-General for International Trade Policy, METI
[2006-2008 Negotiator for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)]
2004 Deputy Director-General, Economic Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)
2003 Deputy Director-General, International Trade Policy Bureau, METI
2002 Director for Manufacturing Industries Policy, Manufacturing Industries Bureau, METI
[2002-2008 Negotiator for five Japanese FTAs (Mexico, Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, and Switzerland)]
2000 Co-chairman, APEC WTO Capacity Building Group
1995 Director, Tariff Division, International Economic Affairs Department, International Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI, current METI)
[1995-1997 Negotiator for Information Technologies Agreement (ITA)]

• "Cross-Border Digital Trade and E-commerce Governance and Necessary Actions Ahead" in Lurong Chen and Fukunari Kimura. eds, "Developing the Digital Economy in ASEAN," Routledge (2019)
• "Will the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Reshape the Global Trade and Investment System? Regional and Systemic Implications: Issues and Options," White Paper, Global Agenda Council on Trade & FDI, World Economic Forum (July 2016), co-authored
• "Will the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Reshape the Global Trade and Investment System? What's In and What's New: Issues and Options," White Paper, Global Agenda Council on Trade & FDI, World Economic Forum (July 2016), co-authored
• "The High and Low Politics of Trade: Can the World Trade Organization's Centrality Be Restored in a New Multi-Tiered Global Trading System?" World Economic Forum (August 2015), co-authored
• "A world without the WTO: what's at stake?" CEPR Policy Insight No 84 (July 2015), co-authored with Richard Baldwin
• "Sectoral and Plurilateral Approaches in Services Negotiations: Before and After TISA" ECIPE POLICY BRIEF No.02/2015 (March 2015)
• "Plurilateral agreements: A viable alternative to the WTO?" in Richard Baldwin, Masahiro Kawai, Ganeshan Wignaraja, eds, The Future of the World Trading System: Asian Perspectives, VoxEU eBook (June 11, 2013) and A World Trade Organization for the 21^st Century, Edward Elgar (2014)

Working Papers

• 'The G20's Potential Role in Fighting against Protectionism and Advancing WTO Reforms' in How the G20 Can Help Sustainably Reshape the Global Trade System, ICTSD, October 2018, pp71-79
• "Services Negotiation and Plurilateral Agreements: TISA and sectoral approach," RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (14-P-023), September 2014.
• "Plurilateral Agreements: A Viable Alternative to the World Trade Organization?" ADBI Working Paper No.439, October 2013.
• "Exploring Future Application of Plurilateral Trade Rules: Lessons from the ITA and the ACTA," RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (12-P-002), February 2012.
• "Exploring Future Application of Plurilateral Trade Rules: Lessons from the ITA and the ACTA," RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (12-P-009), May 2012.
• "Comprehensive Responses to Global Value Chains in the Era of Mega FTAs: From the perspective of trade strategy," RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (13-P-016), August 2013.
• "Services Negotiation and Plulirateral Agreements: TISA and sectoral approach," RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (14-P-002), February 2014.
• " Promotion of digital trade and responses of East Asian countries — Necessity of multi-pillar approaches with WTO and FTAs as the central pillars," RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (22-P-006), April 2022.

Policy Proposals

• "Toward the Reform of the WTO and the Early Conclusion of the Doha Round," December 2011.
• "Concept Paper for an International Supply Chain Agreement (ISCA) - Improving global supply chains by an issues-based plurilateral approach," October 2012.

Essays

• "Collaboration Between FTA & the WTO for the Development of Global Value Chains" Michitaka Nakatomi, Japan Spotlight May/June 2014, P32-35
• "Global Value Chain Governance in the Era of Mega FTAs and a Proposal of an International Supply Chain Agreement," Policy Update, September 6, 2013.
• "Global value chain governance in the era of mega FTAs and a proposal of an international supply-chain agreement," VoxEU Columns, August 15, 2013.

• Roundtable discussion on a rules-based global economy in Japan SPOTLIGHT (Sep, 2019), Japan Economic Foundation
  https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/pdf/227th_Cover_Story_02.pdf