Chantal Ononaiwu is the Trade Policy & Legal Specialist at the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) based in Barbados.   

Her responsibilities include providing advice and making proposals on legal text pertinent to trade negotiations in which CRNM member states are involved and analyzing provisions in other trade agreements that may be relevant to those negotiations. She also has specific responsibility for the subject of Dispute Settlement and collaborates with the CRNM’s Services Trade Unit on the subjects of Services and Investment.

Prior to joining the CRNM, Dr Ononaiwu was the Director, Value Proposition Development at Invest Barbados (the Barbados International Business Promotion Corporation) and a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. She has taught on the MSc and Certificate Programme in International Trade Policy offered by the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy & Services. A graduate of the Norman Manley Law School, she is called to the Bar in Jamaica and has served as legal counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers in Jamaica.

Chantal Ononaiwu is a Rhodes Scholar and holds an LLB (first class honours) from the University of the West Indies, an LLM from the University of Cambridge and a DPhil in Law from the University of Oxford.