Our People
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Peter Govindasamy is Executive Director of the Energy Studies Institute (ESI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is Adjunct Professor and serves as the University's WTO Chair Holder.
Peter brings more than three decades of public service experience spanning foreign affairs, international trade, energy, climate change, and sustainable development. He has held a range of senior appointments and represented Singapore in bilateral, regional, and multilateral negotiations across a spectrum of international institutions, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), United Nations (UN), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Labour Organization (ILO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and World Health Organization (WHO).
In the energy/climate domain, Peter served as Senior Adviser to the UAE Presidency of COP28 and was appointed by the UK Presidency of COP26 to facilitate negotiations on the Decision Text on Response Measures. He is a founding member and Co-Chair of the UNFCCC Katowice Committee of Experts on the Impacts of the Implementation of Response Measures (KCI) and has also co-chaired negotiations on Impacts of the Implementation of Response Measures and the interlinkages between the UNFCCC's Technology and Financial Mechanisms.
In the trade area, Peter had two stints in Geneva as First Secretary and Counsellor between 1995-99, and 2003-09 respectively. He was involved in the Doha negotiations from the run-up, the launch in 2001 and until its full course in 2017. He chaired the WTO negotiations on domestic regulation in services from 2005 to 2009. As Director overseeing WTO at the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry for over a decade, he oversaw and participated in various Ministerial Conferences. He was Singapore’s Chief Negotiator for the Pacific Alliance-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (PASFTA), successfully concluding the four-year long negotiations in 2021. Peter has also led negotiations for a number of Singapore's bilateral investment agreements.
Beyond his role at ESI, Peter is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). He is a member of the Remaking the Global Trade System Project, led by Yale University and The Fletcher School at Tufts University; the World Economic Forum's Climate Trade Zero Initiative; and the International Dialogue on Climate and Trade convened by Columbia University's Centre on Global Energy Policy. He also serves on the ASEAN Dispute Settlement Mechanism Panel.
Peter holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Commercial Law with Distinction from the University of Nottingham, which he completed under the Raffles-Chevening Scholarship.
Peter was awarded National Awards for contributions to the Singapore Public Service: Public Administration medal (Silver), (“Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Perak)”) in August 2021; and
Public Administration medal (Bronze), (“Pingat Pentadbiran Awam (Gangsa)”) in August 2009.
- International economics
- development economics
- energy economics and econometrics
- energy policy and energy transition (renewables, hydrogen, grid infrastructure, ASEAN Power Grid)
- climate change, sustainable development and SDGs
- energy security and the energy trilemma
- WTO, FTA, investment treaty (BIT law and policy
- UN and UNFCCC law and policy
- international trade and investment governance
- climate-trade interactions; economic security and supply-chain resilience
- critical minerals and clean energy supply chains
- ASEAN and Asia-Pacific energy cooperation
- the implications of geopolitical, geo-economic, technological and AI-driven change for the global rules-based order.