Barry Desker

Ambassador Barry Desker is the Dean of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Mr Desker is also the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Jurong Port Pte Ltd and Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd. He is a Trustee of Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

He was Singapore’s Ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1993. He retired from the foreign service in 1993 and was appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Trade Development Board (1994-2000). He is currently the Co-Chair of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP). He was Singapore's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. He was previously on the Boards of Sime SembCorp Engineering Sdn Bhd, as well as Sembawang Engineering and Construction Pte Ltd (now SembCorp Utilities Pte Ltd).

Mr Desker, a President's Scholar, graduated from the University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) degree and obtained his Masters degree from the University of London.

Publications in 2006

• Commentaries and Articles:
  • Southeast Asia Casts Wide Net for Cooperation, Barry Desker, YaleGlobal, 30 May 2006
  • Casting a net wide for cooperation, Barry Desker, The Statesman (India), June 11, 2006 Sunday
  • Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao; Japanese Premier Junichiro Koizumi (Casting a net wide for cooperation), Barry Desker, Bangkok Post, 18 June 2006
  • Southeast Asia casts wide net for cooperation, Barry Desker, The Daily Times (Pakistan), June 05, 2006
  • Time for a ‘Plan B’ for the WTO? - Or how to Rescue the Doha Round, Barry Desker, 22 June 2006
  • Time for a Plan B to rescue the WTO talks, By Barry Desker, June 24, 2006, for The Straits Times,

• Book Chapter:
  • Re-thinking the Safety of Navigation in the Malacca Straits in Barry Desker, Maritime Security in Southeast Asia, John K. Skogan and Kwa Chong Guan (eds) Oxon, UK: Routledge (forthcoming)

• Conference Paper:
  • Disciplining Preferential Trade Agreements, Barry Desker and Margaret Liang, The Cornell Law School and the University of Beijing (Beida) in Beijing on May 22-25, 2006.

Publications in 2007

• Commentaries and Articles:
  • Why APEC Needs Results in Sydney , By Barry Desker, September 7, 2007, RSIS Commentaries,
  • ASEAN : Time to Suspend Myanmar , By Barry Desker, October 4, 2007, RSIS Commentaries,
  • ASEAN: Act on Climate Change , By Barry Desker, October 15, 2007, RSIS Commentaries,