KATHMANDU: The WTO Chairs Programme (WCP) has formally launched a new chair institution — Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) led by WCP Nepal Co-Chair Prof Dr Achyut Wagle.
With the goal of facilitating WTO members' full participation in the multilateral trading system, the WCP provides financial and technical assistance to academic institutions in developing nations so they can increase their knowledge of international trade law and economics.
During the welcome speech WCP Nepal, Kathmandu University Co-chair and Registrar Prof Dr Wagle said, “KU is committed to working to deliver the best in all three key pillars of activities envisaged by WCP for the next three years which include Curriculum Development and Teaching, Research and Capacity Building and Outreach.”
During an event held on October 17, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, in absentia, sent a message of confidence that “WCP Nepal programme has added an important brick on ameliorating mainly supply-side constraints faced by Nepal in the international trade by making the trade and investment policy formulation more evidence-based and realistic as well as compatible to the international trading system.”
The chief guest at the event, Chief Secretary of Government of Nepal, Shanker Das Bairagi, inaugurated the event. Addressing the function, he remarked, “Chairs Programme is a unique initiative by the World Trade Organisation aimed at mainstreaming issues and dynamism of trade and international trade law into the academic programmes, activities and researches in developing countries and hence will no doubt help countries learn to manoeuvre in the complex terrain of world trade.”
Speaking at the event, WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang said that the Chairs Network would result in 'cross-fertilisation of ideas, fostering greater knowledge generation, sharing and exchanges at home, in the region and across regions, for maximum impact at the multilateral forum." Further, he praised the initiative taken by the Chair of Nepal in incorporating human-centric design thinking concepts in the ideation of innovative policy tasks and tools, as well as training programmes that focus on MSMEs and access to green financing in agriculture.
Special Guest at the programme, Prof Dr Bhola Thapa, Vice Chancellor, Kathmandu University, expressed, “KU’s partnership with WTO through this Chairs Programme will significantly help to contribute to achieving the objective of enhancing the academic excellence, research and outreach.”
Australian Ambassador to Nepal Felicity Volk said, “At a time when the multilateral trading system matters so greatly, the trade policy thinking that Chairs bring to the debate can help us find new ways to reinvigorate and strengthen the multilateral system, as well as national and global trade policy making. “
On the occasion, Korea's Deputy Permanent Representative to the WTO, Jung Sung Park applauded the fact that KUSOM being selected as a new chair makes an excellent choice as it directly connects with businesses which are the main beneficiary of the WTO rule book. He further gave confidence that the Chair in Nepal can help in catalysing research in topics that have strong relevance to topics in LDC and LLDC.
From among the donor countries' side Cynthia Zimmermann, Director-General of Austria's Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs, said, “Chairs programme generates excellent long-term sustainability by capitalising on academic specialisation and increasing the capacity in the host country.”
Through a video message Desiree Van Gorp, academic advisory board member, stated that the advisory board will aggressively work with KUSOM on the agendas and build a network not only with chairs but also with other stakeholders”.
Director of the Knowledge Management Division, Dr Werner Zdouc praised WCP-Nepal’s plan of organising a special workshop for rural entrepreneurs and school teachers for disseminating tools for advance trade analysis and expressed his confidence that the new chair will be able to explore how to improve access to benefits of globalisation for marginalised communities to search for a concrete solution for its implementation.
Meanwhile, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) President Shekhar Golchha emphasized that private sector, academia and government will have to work together to identify bottlenecks in trade and solve the problems associated with it.
Finally, Prof Dr Devi Bedari, Dean of KUSOM in his vote of thanks said the next four years will spur growth in trade-related research and capacity building so that the school achieves the WCP mission of sustainability of all three pillars. Likewise, he also expressed gratitude to donors, WTO and WCP for creating the opportunity for KU and KUSOM.
The two-day WCP launch event that began on Monday will conclude today. The event includes panel discussions and presentations by experts on two major themes —WTO and Nepal Trade Regime, and Food Security and Nepal. The panel discussion is expected to generate discourse on current trade practices and possible measures for enhancing food security in the least developed countries like Nepal.
Established in August 1993, the School, popularly known as KUSOM, was the first school to launch a graduate programme at Kathmandu University and also the first one to initiate Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme in the country based on internationally followed design principles and structure.
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Published Date: October 18, 2022, 12:00 am
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