Emeritus Professor Faizel Ismail is the former Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town. He has a PhD in Politics from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom (2015); an MPhil in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex (1992), and BA and LLB Degrees from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (Pietermaritzburg) in South Africa (1981 and 1985).

Prof Ismail served as the Ambassador Permanent Representative of South Africa to the WTO (2010-2014 and as South Africa’s Special Envoy on the South Africa-USA AGOA negotiations between January 2015 and June 2016. He is the author of three books on the WTO: Mainstreaming Development in the WTO. Developing Countries in the Doha Round (2007) and Reforming the World Trade Organization. Developing Countries in the Doha Round (2009). His latest book on the WTO was published by the South Centre and TIPS: WTO Reform and the crisis of multilateralism. A Developing Country Perspective (2020). He has also published a book on the African Continental Free Trade Area: The AfCFTA and Developmental Regionalism. A Handbook. (2021).