Lionel Fontagné

Director of the Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, Professor of economics

The WTO Chair at the University of Tunis helped build a network of trade researchers and experts all over the Middle East and North Africa. This vibrant ecosystem, which led to the publication in academic journals of 20 papers, proved his resilience after the end of its WTO funding. The chair holder was able to get funds from several partners to launch new collaborative projects. In a nice example of responsiveness to social demand, the WTO Chair in Tunisia partnered with the French Institute of Development to explore the impact of COVID 19 on firms in Tunisia and in developing countries in general. The latter project is funded by the French Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS).