Anabel Gonzalez is non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and a World Bank consultant on trade and investment. She is also the host of the virtual event series Trade Winds.
As former Senior Director of the World Bank´s Global Practice on Trade & Competitiveness (2014-2017), she led the Bank´s agenda on trade, investment climate, competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship to expand market opportunities, enable private initiative and develop dynamic economies.
She previously served as Minister of Trade of Costa Rica (2010-2014), where she headed the country’s strategy to join the OECD, negotiated and implemented six major trade agreements and contributed to attract over 140 foreign direct investment projects. She also had a lead role in Costa Rica’s Competitiveness and Innovation Council. During her more than 15 years of service with the Ministry of Foreign Trade, she held various positions including Director General for International Trade Negotiations (1990-1997), Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade (1998-2001) and Ambassador-Chief Negotiator (2003-2004).
Anabel also served as Director of Costa Rica's Investment Promotion Agency (2001-2002), Director to the Agriculture and Commodities Division of the World Trade Organization (2006-2009), and Senior International Consultant on Trade and Investment at the Inter-American Development Bank (2009-10).
She is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Trade and Investment and has written extensively and presented in over 60 countries around the world.