Nihal Pitigala is a Senior Trade Economist with over 20 years of experience providing analysis and policy advice on trade competitiveness, global value chains (PhD thesis), regional and multilateral integration, and trade policy reforms. He has published a number of peer-reviewed articles on South Asia regional trade and global value chains. At the World Bank, he has supported both research (DECRG) and operational work (PREM Trade) since 1999. Prior to consulting at the World Bank, he served as an economic advisor to Board of Investment in Sri Lanka on regional and multilateral trade policy formulation and negotiations. He holds a PhD in Economics (Trade) from the University of Sussex.