On July 5th, the closing ceremony of the Regional Trade Policy Course (RTPC) for Asia-Pacific members and observers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held on the Gubei Campus of SUIBE. Bridget Chilala, Director of the WTO Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC), and Han Changtian, Deputy Director General of the Department of WTO Affairs at China’s Ministry of Commerce addressed the closing ceremony via video. Vonai MUYAMBO, Training Officer of WTO Institute for ITTC, and Training Officer Lissette NONALAYA ARANDA, together with Wang Rongming, SUIBE President, Zhang Yiguo, Vice Chairman of the University Council, Huang Jianzhong, Director of the Asia-Pacific Training Center of the WTO, Liu Suzhen, Party Secretary of the School of Global Governance, and Ying Pinguang, Dean of the School of Global Governance attended the closing ceremony.
Bridget Chilala congratulated the participants on completing the course and stated that RTPC is designed to deepen their understanding of WTO rules and develop their capabilities to make use of WTO Open Source Intelligence. She also expressed gratitude to the contributions that the Chinese government and the Permanent Mission of China to the WTO have made to WTO technical assistance.
Han Changtian, in his remarks, recognized the great success of the training program and called on the participants to apply what they have learned in their own countries and to play a more active role in strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation. He expressed support for SUIBE and other Chinese universities as well as research institutes in their efforts to help WTO developing member and least developed countries cultivate more talents who are familiar with WTO rules and system, so as to promote a greater role of the WTO in global economic governance.
In his speech at the closing ceremony, Wang Rongming expressed his congratulations to the participants on completing the training program and thanked experts of WTO Secretariat and other countries and regions for their support and assistance. He hopes that through the training, all participants will become more deeply involved in strengthening the multilateral trading system. “SUIBE is willing to make joint efforts with you to promote the WTO’s greater role in improving global economic governance, enhancing economic globalization and the world economy’s prosperity and stability,” he added.
The eight-week RTPC training was jointly organized by SUIBE and the WTO, with its courses covering the WTO Agreements and areas related to trade policies. It was joined by 25 participants from 15 WTO members and observers in the Asia-Pacific, including some high-level officials. Training courses were given by technical experts of various departments from WTO Secretariat, along with globally and regionally renowned scholars.
Translated by Liu Minyue