Henry Gao

Law professor, Singapore Management University

Senior fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation

Prof. Henry Gao is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and a law professor at Singapore Management University. With law degrees from three continents, he started his career as the first Chinese lawyer at the WTO Secretariat. As a leading expert on digital trade and e-commerce issues, he has been an advisor on digital trade issues for many national governments as well as the WTO, UN, World Bank, ADB, APEC, ASEAN and the World Economic Forum. Widely published on digital trade issues, he has been cited in the World Trade Report by the WTO and the Digital Economy Report by UNCTAD. He sits on the Advisory Board of the WTO Chairs Program, which was established by the WTO Secretariat in 2009 to promote research and teaching on WTO issues in leading universities around the world. He is also a member of editorial boards of the Journal of International Economic Law and Journal of Financial Regulation, both published by Oxford University Press. He’s currently working on issues relating to digital trade, China and WTO, and WTO reform. His most recent work is a paper analyzing China’s changing perspectives on the WTO, which was quoted as an “invaluable” paper by the Financial Times in its feature article on China’s 20th anniversary in the WTO.

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