

ITC's Executive Director
Pamela Coke-Hamilton
Pamela Coke-Hamilton, an international trade lawyer and expert with a heart for development, has served as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC) since October 2020. Her appointment was announced by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
Since joining the organization at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Coke-Hamilton has placed the spotlight on the fact that trade is a human story and that ITC’s work is, at its core, about transforming trade and changing lives. It is about ensuring the smallest, least developed, most vulnerable, hardest-to-reach countries have equal standing as their counterparts in global trade, and that their small businesses are empowered to achieve their full potential.
As ITC Executive Director, she co-chairs the Working Group on Our Common Agenda, the UN Secretary-General’s blueprint for global cooperation to reinvigorate multilateralism and serve as a booster shot for the Sustainable Development Goals. She also serves as a Broadband Commissioner for Sustainable Development – an ITU-led public-private partnership fostering digital cooperation to achieve universal connectivity – and as co-chair of the Broadband Commission Working Group on Connectivity for MSMEs.
Before joining ITC, Ms. Coke-Hamilton served as UNCTAD’s Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities, having worked extensively with the private sector, government and academia across African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to build their trade-related institutional strength.
She began her career in Jamaica’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, with her first posting at the Permanent Mission of Jamaica in Geneva during the Uruguay Round Negotiations. She later served in Washington, D.C., at various regional institutions, including as Director of Trade, Tourism and Competitiveness at the Organization of American States and as Regional Hub Coordinator for the Caribbean in the Integration and Trade Department of the Inter-American Development Bank.
As Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, Ms. Coke-Hamilton was instrumental in fostering the growth of regional businesses, enhancing their capacity to increase exports, attract investment and transform to meet requirements of the new international trading system. Notably, she established the Women Empowered through Export (WE-Xport) platform to address the disadvantages that women-owned businesses face in accessing markets.
She holds a Juris Doctor in Law from Georgetown University and an undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of the West Indies. She is the founder of the Shridath Ramphal Centre and the Masters in International Trade Policy programme at the University of the West Indies. When she is not working, she enjoys sports, art, history, reading and traveling.
For the latest, follow the Executive Director on X at @CokeHamilton.
Photo gallery
Videos
CNBC | 11 December 2024 | |
The Money Show | 11 December 2024 | South Africa's G20 Presidency: A Platform to Empower SMEs, Boost Regional Trade, and Champion Women Entrepreneurs |
CNN.com | 6 August 2024 | |
cnbcafrica.com | 19 June 2024 |
Coke-Hamilton: Need to identify business barriers for Africa’s growth |
thenassauguardian.com | 17 June 2024 | Bahamian firms urged to use Global Trade Helpdesk to unlock opportunities |
internationaldiplomat.com | 15 June 2024 | Interview with Pamela Coke-Hamilton |
voxafrica.com | 13 June 2024 | Afreximbank’s Annual Meetings 2024 Calls for Africans Across the Globe to Unite |
radiocite.ch | 7 June 2024 | Pamela Coke-Hamilton |
Time | 21 November 2024 | The Future of Climate Action Is Trade Policy |
Reuters | 9 October 2024 | UN agency launching platform to help small farmers meet EU deforestation rules |
bloomberg.com | 2 October 2024 | Europe’s Global Green Ambitions Push Too Hard Once Again |
bloomberg.com | 16 June 2024 | Europe deforestation law sparks race to map world's food commodities |
bloomberg.com | 6 June 2024 | The Race to Meet EU Sourcing Rules Spans Six Continents |
X | 4 December 2023 | Pamela Coke-Hamilton underscores the crucial need for small businesses to access financing for climate action. |
nytimes.com | 5 March 2024 | Can Europe save forests without killing jobs in Malaysia? |
bloomberg.com | 26 February 2024 | Pamela Coke-Hamilton: WTO will need to adjust to AI, climate change, other challenges |
Financial Times | 20 August 2023 | EU deforestation rules risk ‘catastrophic’ impact on global trade, says ITC chief |
bloomberg.com | 26 February 2024 | Pamela Coke-Hamilton: WTO will need to adjust to AI, climate change, other challenges |
thenassauguardian.com | 17 June 2024 | Bahamian firms urged to use Global Trade Helpdesk to unlock opportunities |
NZZ | 11 September 2024 | Nachhaltige Produkte: Sicherung echter Nachhaltigkeit im internationalen Handel |
The Money Show | 11 December 2024 | South Africa's G20 Presidency: A Platform to Empower SMEs, Boost Regional Trade, and Champion Women Entrepreneurs |
Exame | 22 October 2024 | Opinion article - Por que investir em mulheres no comércio, agora, faz sentido econômico |
internationaldiplomat.com | 15 June 2024 | |
radiocite.ch | 7 June 2024 | Pamela Coke-Hamilton |
internationaldiplomat.com | 15 June 2024 | |
radiocite.ch | 7 June 2024 | Pamela Coke-Hamilton |
internationaldiplomat.com | 15 June 2024 | |
nytimes.com | 5 March 2024 | Can Europe save forests without killing jobs in Malaysia? |
CNN.com | 6 August 2024 | Linking Africa and the Caribbean through trade |
cnbcafrica.com | 19 June 2024 | Coke-Hamilton: Need to identify business barriers for Africa’s growth |
voxafrica.com | 13 June 2024 | Afreximbank’s Annual Meetings 2024 Calls for Africans Across the Globe to Unite |