Dr. Akihiko Tamura
Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Japan.

Dr. Tamura has been Professor for GRIPS since July 2017. He also currently serves as:
Visiting Professor for Fudan University and Consulting Fellow for Research Institute of
Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
In the year 2016-2017, Aki was Deputy Director-General for Trade Policy, the Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan, in charge of bilateral trade issues
with China, Korea, Mongolia and Central Asian countries, such as China-Japan-Korea
FTA negotiation and One Belt One Road. He also served as Japan’s chief negotiator
for WTO Environmental Goods (EGA) negotiations.
From 2011 to 2014, Dr. Tamura was Managing Director for the Beijing Office of the
Japan-China Economic Association. From 2010 to 2011, Dr. Tamura was Director of
FTAs with ASEAN and China/Korea at the METI, working on a possible launch of
ASEAN plus 6 FTA negotiations, which turned out to be materialized as RCEP later.
From 2009 to 2010, Dr. Tamura served as Councilor for APEC at the METI, serving as a
primary officer of “APEC 2010” team, in charge of drafting the documents such as
“The Yokohama Vision – Bogor and Beyond” and “Pathways toward FTAAP”. From
2007 to 2009, Dr. Tamura served as Japan’s chief negotiator for WTO Non-Agricultural
Market Access (NAMA) negotiation of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).. From
2003 to 2006, Dr. Tamura was Legal Officer of Legal Division, WTO. From 1997 to
2000, Dr. Tamura was First Secretary to the Embassy of Japan in the United States.
Aki received his S.J.D from The George Washington University Law School. He got his
LL.M. from Harvard Law School and his LL.B from University of Tokyo.