Inaugural NUS WTO Chair a milestone
Dr Low (left) congratulating Assoc Prof Ewing-Chow (Credits: NUS Newshub)
MEETING STORY by Natalie Kuan
The NUS Faculty of Law has partnered with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to launch the first Singapore Chair of the WTO Chairs Programme (WCP).
The move is a welcome development aimed at deepening Singapore’s support for the multilateral trading system. It will also provide the Centre for International Law (CIL) and NUS beneficial access to a growing international trade discourse.
Speaking at the launch event held on 4 October 2011 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Chairman of CIL, Prof Tommy Koh called the launch a “milestone in Singapore's partnership with the WTO”.
Prof Koh, who is also the Ambassador-at-Large at Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, went on to add that the WTO Chair at the NUS Law School will “plug the school into a strong network” of 15 distinguished global universities. All of whom strongly support the WTO and its activities.
NUS was chosen as the latest Chair of the programme, after a competitive round of proposals involving 15 other universities.
Academic institutions awarded WTO Chairs will support WTO in areas of capacity building, research and outreach activities.
Director of WTO's Economic Research and Statistics Division Dr Patrick Low credited NUS' “multidisciplinary orientation” as one of the factors that led the University to be chosen.
“ NUS is ideally suited to understanding all the complexities underlying international trade relations," he said.
The launch of the WCP comes at a time when questions have started to be raised over the future of a strained multilateral trading system. Despite 10 years of negotiations, the Doha Round still remains at an impasse. "Free trade faces many challenges today with the Financial Crisis and the slow pace of the Doha Round," said NUS Law Dean Prof Tan Cheng Han.
He was present at the launch along with 60 other invited guests from the public and people sectors, as well as delegates attending the inaugural WTO Policy Dialogue in Singapore.
Prof Tan also noted that NUS hopes to further the work of the WTO, by training a new generation to support and promote free trade efforts.
Economist Larry Neo and Law student Lim Hui En who attended the event, welcomed the move.
“We should continue to push for multilateral trade liberalization, then maybe we will be able to break the Doha impasse,” said economist Larry Neo.
Hui En, a 3rd Year Law student, also added that the partnership would be a good way to give students interested in trade relations more exposure to the international trade discourse involving the WTO.
A panel session with other Asian WTO chairs on "The Future of the WTO" concluded the event. The session was moderated by newly appointed WTO Chair for Singapore, Assoc Prof Ewing-Chow, from the NUS Law School and Head of Trade/Investment Law & Policy of the CIL.
The NUS Faculty of Law has partnered with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to launch the first Singapore Chair of the WTO Chairs Programme (WCP).
The move is a welcome development aimed at deepening Singapore’s support for the multilateral trading system. It will also provide the Centre for International Law (CIL) and NUS beneficial access to a growing international trade discourse.
Speaking at the launch event held on 4 October 2011 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Chairman of CIL, Prof Tommy Koh called the launch a “milestone in Singapore's partnership with the WTO”.
Prof Koh, who is also the Ambassador-at-Large at Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, went on to add that the WTO Chair at the NUS Law School will “plug the school into a strong network” of 15 distinguished global universities. All of whom strongly support the WTO and its activities.
NUS was chosen as the latest Chair of the programme, after a competitive round of proposals involving 15 other universities.
Academic institutions awarded WTO Chairs will support WTO in areas of capacity building, research and outreach activities.
Director of WTO's Economic Research and Statistics Division Dr Patrick Low credited NUS' “multidisciplinary orientation” as one of the factors that led the University to be chosen.
“ NUS is ideally suited to understanding all the complexities underlying international trade relations," he said.
The launch of the WCP comes at a time when questions have started to be raised over the future of a strained multilateral trading system. Despite 10 years of negotiations, the Doha Round still remains at an impasse. "Free trade faces many challenges today with the Financial Crisis and the slow pace of the Doha Round," said NUS Law Dean Prof Tan Cheng Han.
He was present at the launch along with 60 other invited guests from the public and people sectors, as well as delegates attending the inaugural WTO Policy Dialogue in Singapore.
Prof Tan also noted that NUS hopes to further the work of the WTO, by training a new generation to support and promote free trade efforts.
Economist Larry Neo and Law student Lim Hui En who attended the event, welcomed the move.
“We should continue to push for multilateral trade liberalization, then maybe we will be able to break the Doha impasse,” said economist Larry Neo.
Hui En, a 3rd Year Law student, also added that the partnership would be a good way to give students interested in trade relations more exposure to the international trade discourse involving the WTO.
A panel session with other Asian WTO chairs on "The Future of the WTO" concluded the event. The session was moderated by newly appointed WTO Chair for Singapore, Assoc Prof Ewing-Chow, from the NUS Law School and Head of Trade/Investment Law & Policy of the CIL.