NUS Hosts Third Year of Prestigious Regional Trade Policy Course

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is pleased to announce the official opening of the Third Regional Trade Policy Course (RTPC) for the Asia-Pacific region, held in partnership between the WTO and the University’s Faculty of law. This important partnership between the WTO and the University’s Faculty of Law will be commemorated with an official Opening Ceremony and Dinner at NUS’s Bukit Timah Campus hosted by Law Dean, Professor Tan Cheng Han, SC, on Tuesday, 19 May 2009.

Gracing this event as Guest-of-Honour will be Mr. Koh Tin Fook, Director of Technical Cooperation Directorate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Other distinguished guests expected during the evening’s ceremony include senior government officials from Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade & Industry. Mr. Raymond J. Krommenacker, Head, Asia and Pacific Desk, Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation, will represent WTO at the event.

Ms Indranee Rajah, Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Director of Drew & Napier, will be the Patroness for the RTPC. This is a new WTO innovation and it is the first year that the RTPC would be having a Patroness. The purpose behind the idea is that the patroness would provide inspiration, guidance and leadership to the participants.

NUS had beaten stiff competition from other universities from Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan to win the bid to host the first highly prestigious RTPC in 2007. The Singapore version of the course is largely modelled after the Trade Policy Course, which is held annually in Geneva at the WTO. It will however provide a greater emphasis on regional trade issues. This year’s course will run from 18 May 2009 to 7 August 2009.

Twenty-five government officials from 22 countries in the Asia-Pacific region have enrolled in this year’s RTPC. Classes for the participants would be at the NUS Law Faculty’s Bukit Timah premises, with participants getting the opportunity to utilise state-of-the-art teaching tools and facilities.

To augment their classroom experience, the programme will also include study visits to institutions that demonstrate Singapore’s trade and economic policies in practice. These include visits to CrimsonLogic to learn how trade tools such as TradeNet help to facilitate trade in Singapore, as well as visits to PSA Singapore Terminals and ICA Ports Command to see how these have contributed to Singapore’s economic development.

The course content covers virtually every aspect of WTO’s agreements and negotiations, and will be taught by WTO, NUS and regional experts. Participants, who are mainly trade policy officials in their home countries, would then return to their countries with an enhanced understanding of WTO’s laws and policies, which would enable them to contribute positively to their own government’s trade policy-related decision-making processes.

Leading the team that was set up to manage the RTPC in Singapore is Academic Coordinator, Adjunct Professor Margaret Liang. Professor Liang specialises in WTO Trade Law and was Singapore’s negotiator during the Uruguay Round negotiations.