UWI Cave Hill, UNCTAD sign partnership MOU

he University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus, the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services, and the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to further trade-related research and cooperation.

The MOU was signed by principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Professor Clive Landis, and UNCTAD’s Deputy Secretary General, Pedro Manuel Moreno, on Tuesday.

It signing was witnessed by Barbados’ Ambassador to the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other International Organisations in Geneva, Matthew Wilson, who also serves on the Board of the Shridath Ramphal Centre; Director of the Centre, Dr Jan Yves Remy, and UWI’s Cave Hill Dean of Social Sciences, Professor Troy Lorde.

The partnership is a direct outcome of the recent Global Supply Chain Forum held in Barbados in May and builds on almost 20 years of collaboration between UWI and UNCTAD, specifically concerning annual visits to Geneva by students.

A focus of the partnership going forward will be on joint research, especially in the area of the blue and green economy, building on the Villars Framework, and supporting trade-related data and analysis.

Principal Landis praised the collaboration and said it was an input into the ongoing work on “remaking trade”, led by Dr Remy and other academics under the Villars Framework.

UNCTAD’s Deputy Secretary General Moreno pointed out that the MOU represents a continuation of the long collaboration between UN Trade and Development and the Caribbean.

Ambassador Wilson, who has been involved in the Centre’s MITP Programme for almost two decades, stated: “The policy support and analysis that can result from this partnership will be incredibly useful for the small Caribbean missions in Geneva, which often have to cover a multitude of issues and need quick policy contributions.”

Students of the Shridath Ramphal Centre’s MITP Programme have been in Geneva for two weeks as part of the Joint University Study Tour, where students visit international organisations, CARICOM embassies and missions, as well as private sector entities, to get a first-hand view of how trade practitioners, from a variety of fields and institutions, undertake their tasks and put trade policy in action.

The Barbados Mission in Geneva is hosting four interns from UWI and the University of Newcastle, who will be shadowing the Barbados team, at meetings of the Human Rights Council and the WTO Trade Policy Review of Canada, where Ambassador Wilson is serving as the discussant.

(BGIS)