Ambassador Tomochika Uyama is a seasoned diplomat with over three decades of distinguished service in the Japanese Foreign Ministry. He currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Director-General at the World Trade Organization (WTO). 

Ambassador Uyama’s career has been deeply rooted in the advancement of international economic diplomacy. He has played a pivotal role in shaping multilateral trade frameworks through his involvement in the GATT Uruguay Round and the WTO works, including the Doha Round negotiations. His expertise also extends to bilateral trade negotiations, particularly with Southeast Asian nations, and he has been instrumental in the development and management of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as well as in steering key economic dialogues with the United States. 

In addition to his trade policy work, Ambassador Uyama participated in numerous G7 and G20 summit meetings in the capacity of Sous Sherpa of Japan, contributing to the coordination and negotiation of high-level international economic and political agendas. 

His diplomatic journey has taken him across the globe, with overseas postings in Egypt, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, the United States—where he served as Japan’s Consul General in San Francisco—and Geneva, where he held the position of Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the WTO. During his earlier tenure in Geneva, he chaired the Committee on Specific Commitments under the Council for Trade in Services from 2000 to 2001, contributing to the foundational work on trade in services. 

In his current role at the WTO, Ambassador Uyama focuses on critical and emerging areas such as trade in services, investment, electronic commerce, artificial intelligence, trade monitoring, trade policy review, and intellectual property rights (TRIPS). He also provides regional insights with a particular emphasis on the Asia-Pacific.