New Report looks at WTO Technical Assistance Activities in Post-Pandemic Era

· Over 12,100 participants from across the world benefitted from 243 activities in 2022 — comprising e-learning as well as face-to-face and virtual activities.

· More women than men participated in WTO technical assistance activities — accounting for 51 per cent of all participants.

· The network gained wider geographical coverage, with the number of universities in the programme increasing from 19 to 35 Chairs in 2022.

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The recently published 2022 report on WTO technical assistance outlines how the WTO Secretariat has responded to the training needs of WTO members and observer governments since the ending of COVID-19 restrictions. In the foreword to the report, Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang says: “The WTO Secretariat has continued to adapt technical assistance activities and keep them relevant in a fast-changing world.”

DDG Zhang notes that in 2022, the WTO evolved its technical assistance activities, combining face-to-face training with virtual components to maximize the impact and efficiency of these activities.

Over 12,100 participants from across the world benefitted from 243 activities in 2022 — comprising e-learning as well as face-to-face and virtual activities. The resumption of face-to-face training in the second half of the year led to an increase in the number of activities compared to the previous two years.

One of the key advances highlighted by the report is the greater participation of women in training opportunities. For the first time, more women than men participated in WTO technical assistance activities — accounting for 51 per cent of all participants — a key factor in helping to increase women's participation in global trade. The WTO also revamped its e-Learning platform, implementing a more user-friendly open-source solution. Greater variety of teaching tools were also used in the technical assistance curriculum.

Under the WTO Chairs Programme, the network gained wider geographical coverage, with the number of universities in the programme increasing from 19 to 35 Chairs in 2022. The objective of the Programme is to assist academic institutions in developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs) in enhancing their expertise on WTO-related matters, such as trade policy, international trade economics, international relations and international economic law.

Potential areas for improvement pinpointed by the report include enhancing the participation of LDCs in technical assistance activities, increasing the engagement of observer governments in their respective WTO accession negotiations and improving their participation in advanced levels of training.

All technical assistance activities are designed to produce measurable results that assist beneficiaries in enforcing their rights and obligations under the WTO, taking full advantage of the rules-based multilateral trading system and adapting to emerging challenges and opportunities.