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Denise Pereira joined Singaporeโs Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in 2003. She is currently on private sector attachments, first to PSA International (Jan-Jun 2024) and presently at SGTraDex-Services.
Denise has held various trade policy portfolios in MTI, from Singapore and overseas. She opened MTIโs economic office in Jakarta and was Singaporeโs first Economic Counsellor at the Embassy of Singapore to Indonesia (2016-2018). She was in Geneva, Switzerland, as Singaporeโs lead for the WTO Trade in Goods negotiations, Trade Facilitation Agreement, and Chair of the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (2009-2012). From MTI HQ, Denise was Singaporeโs lead for the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment (2013-2015); led teams on the WTO (2012-2015) and Southeast Asia & Oceania portfolios (2018-2019); oversaw Singaporeโs economic engagement with Latin America and Central Asia, working with individual countries and economic blocs, such as the Pacific Alliance, MERCOSUR, and Eurasian Economic Union, to build partnerships and facilitate projects (2019-2024); and worked on the ASEAN Economic Community and ASEANโs Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Japan, Korea, and Australia & New Zealand (2003-2009). Denise has a soft spot for Rules of Origin (ROO) matters. She led various ASEAN FTA ROO negotiations and was the Chief Negotiator of the FTA between Singapore and the Eurasian Economic Union. Denise was also in several workstreams relating to the cross-border movement of people and goods during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Private sector attachments have given Denise varying perspectives of Singaporeโs trade and business landscape and styles of operations and management. During her time at PSA, Denise worked on insights and analyses to global events that impact international trade and shipping routes and learned about the container port terminal. With SGTraDex, Denise works on government engagement and international partnerships to grow adoption of the digital and data exchange utility.
At work, Denise focuses efforts on enhancing the capabilities and welfare of her teams, while building economic relationships for Singapore globally, with focus on new partnerships for economic diversification and digitalisation of supply chain ecosystems. At home, Denise enjoys and prioritises spending time with family. She values kindness and consideration, resourcefulness, and resilience.
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