GRIPS President Tanaka (left) and Executive Director of the International Trade Center (right)

On November 1, the Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), Arancha González, visited GRIPS and met with GRIPS President Akihiko Tanaka, Special Professor Kenichi Kawasaki, and GRIPS Professor Akihiko Tamura.

The ITC is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and was jointly established by the United Nations and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It focuses mainly on SMEs in developing countries and undertakes technical collaboration in fields including 1) trade and market data analysis, 2) support for the implementation of policies and systems to improve the business environment, 3) capability strengthening for trade and investment promotion agencies, 4) integrated support for the international value chain of SMEs, 5) promotion of comprehensive and environmentally friendly trade, and 6) support for strengthening of regional integration and south-south cooperation.

In the Global EPAs Research Consortium (of which Professor Kawasaki is co-chairman), the ITC has played an important role in areas such as establishing globally unified data on tariff reductions through the TPP and other trade agreements. Ms. González spoke about the planning and implementation of fact-based trade policies and the role that establishing data and other such survey work will play in future trade negotiations.

Ms. González then went on to talk about the global trade data analysis that the ITC is currently undertaking and noted that while trade research has thus far been conducted from a global perspective, henceforth research should switch its focus to regions. This brought questions from those present regarding the relevance to the WTO and funding for activities, and after taking the time to answer each question, Ms. González emphasized that ITC tackles individual issues that actually arise in the global trade handled by the WTO.

President Tanaka noted the importance of ITC’s activities, such as its analysis of trade policy data and support for SMEs against a backdrop of circumstances in which WTO negotiations are not making good progress, and also expressed his high expectations for future activity from the ITC.