On the afternoon of December 11th, Ms. Gonzalez, Chef de Cabinet ofthe Office of WTO Director-General Lamy, paid a special visit toSIFT which was just awarded the WTO Chairs Programme(WCP). SunHaiming, president of SIFT, met with Ms. Gonzalez and extended hisgracious welcome and gratitude to her.
Ms. Gonzalez congratulated SIFT on being one of the first 12 WCPafter fierce competition with over 70 colleges and universitiesfrom all over the world. She pointed out that it is the result ofSIFT’s long-term commitment to WTO teaching, research andinformation dissemination. At the same time, she expressed herheartfelt congratulation to Professor Zhang Lei, dean of the Schoolof WTO Research and Education of SIFT, on being one of the firstWTO Chair Holders in the history of WTO.
In the meeting, Ms. Gonzalez introduced the aims and significanceof WCP and expressed her expectation of SIFT. President Sunexpressed sincere gratitude to the WTO Secretariat for grantingSIFT WCP and giving SIFT support for its efforts in WTO researchand education.
The two sides preliminarily discussed issues about theboard-unveiling ceremony of WCP to be held in SIFT in July 2010.They also reached a consensus that the WTO Secretariat will sendits representative to attend the "Conference on WTO Trade PolicyReview of China” held by the Ministry of Commerce and organized bySIFT as well as the board-unveiling ceremony of China's WTO TradePolicy Review Center.