Thursday, October 14, 2010

On 14 October 2010, Deputy Director-General Alejandro Jara inaugurated the WTO Chair at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM) in Mexico City. The Vice Rector of ITAM, Dr Alejandro Hernandez, opened the event with words of welcome and appreciation.

The event was well attended, with 80 people from Mexico City, Guadalajara and Veracruz in attendance.

DDG Jara began by explaining the rationale behind the WTO Chairs Programme (WCP) and its commitment to transfer ownership to WCP institutions and supporting programmes that have a long-term perspective. He emphasized the importance of academic institutions as partners to enhance the capacity of countries to participate meaningfully in international trade. He praised the institutional infrastructure at ITAM and the productivity of the Centre for International Economic Law. He further noted that this day marked the launch of the new Revista de Derecho Economico Internacional, a new interdisciplinary journal on international economic law that publishes articles in Spanish and Portuguese.

Furthermore Dr Condon, WCP Chair holder, and the co-director of the Centre for International Economic Law, Professor Gabriela Rodriguez, explained how the WCP had allowed the Centre to expand its activities. Dr Condon expressed their vision to make Mexico one of the most important centres for international economic law. Professor Rodriguez explained their desire to promote research and teaching on WTO law in the Spanish-speaking world.

Since receiving the WTO Chair, the Centre has expanded its series of on-line case comments in Spanish on recent panel and Appellate Body reports and decisions of other international tribunals. The Centre has also continued to publish working papers in English and in Spanish on its web page, including a recent study on Aid for Trade for the OECD and the WTO. The Centre has launched a new certificate programme on international economic law that will begin in 2011.

The Centre is planning an international conference for 2011, in conjunction with the WTO Chairs in Chile and Argentina. The Centre has also launched a programme for visiting professors that will bring researchers to ITAM from others parts of the world. The new journal features an advisory board and editorial board made up of the leading experts in international economic law from around the world. It is published on-line and provides free access to peer-reviewed academic articles in Spanish and Portuguese, as well as practitioner articles and case comments in Spanish.