International Women’s Day Event – Women in International Trade

Keynote speaker Elisabeth Bowes – Deputy High Commissioner of Australia. Elisabeth will discuss the role of women in international trade and the broader impact this has on world trade. Followed by a lively debate with the Members of Goodenough College and the Livery.

Elisabeth Bowes is a senior career officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and has been Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom since January 2023. She was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2021 for outstanding public service to international trade policy, particularly as Head of the Tobacco Plain Packaging Taskforce.
Prior to coming to the UK, she was First Assistant Secretary and Chief Negotiator, Free Trade Agreements and Stakeholder Division, DFAT, from January 2020. In that role, she led negotiations for Australia of the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement.

Elisabeth was previously Assistant Secretary, Trade and Investment Law Branch, Office of Trade Negotiations (September 2019-January 2020), and Minister-Counsellor (Trade) at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC (July 2016-July 2019). In Washington, she oversaw bilateral trade relations between the US and Australia, as well as broader trade policy issues, climate change and energy issues, infrastructure and transportation. Prior to arriving in Washington, Elisabeth was Head of the Tobacco Plain Packaging Taskforce in the Office of Trade Negotiations in DFAT, Canberra, from 2012-2016, where she led the successful defence of that measure in WTO dispute proceedings.