Yulia Lukasheva Melara is an International Program Specialist with the Commercial Law Development (CLDP) of the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of the General Counsel. Ms. Melara works primarily on programs in Central Asia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

Prior to joining CLDP, Ms. Melara worked for various international development organizations, such as USAID funded contractors, international NGOs and lately with U.S. Embassies in Honduras and Belize. As a Program Specialist for USAID’s Global Training for Development Project implemented by the Academy for Educational Development, she supported USAID-funded short-term training programs providing technical assistance to government officials in Kyrgyzstan. She also worked with the American Council for Collaboration in Education and Language Study implementing higher education exchange programs in Kyrgyzstan, and a British NGO Everychild managing a project for children and families at risk, funded by Norwegian donors. Ms. Melara received her Bachelor of Arts Degree with honors in Journalism from the American University in Central Asia and spent one year as an exchange student at the University of Oregon, Eugene. Ms. Melara is originally from Kyrgyzstan, speaks fluent Russian and has a working knowledge of Spanish.