WTI faculty advise Kazakhstan over WTO accession

The World Trade Institute has played an important behind-the-scenes role in shaping the terms of Kazakhstan’s accession process. Several WTI graduates were directly involved in Kazakhstan’s WTO accession bid. A profile of these alumni will appear on this website in the coming weeks.

Three WTI faculty members – Pierre Sauvé, Arthur Appleton and Rodrigo Polanco - were closely involved in last-minute advising and, especially, in work conducted for the World Bank alongside former WTI colleague and faculty member Roberto Echandi, in helping the Kazakh government devise its post-accession implementation road map and identify the knowledge gaps that need to be addressed.

One exciting component of this relates to training government officials and relevant stakeholders from academia, the private sector and other civil society circles. The WTI is currently in discussions with the School of Public Policy at Nazarbayev University in Astana with a view to designing and deploying tailor-made courses on key challenges in trade and investment governance.