Prof Carli Bezuidenhout Represents South Africa’s WTO WCP Chair at 2025 Annual Conference in Geneva

This year, Prof Carli Bezuidenhout, represented South Africa at the 2025 Annual Conference of the WTO Chairs Programme at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, on behalf of Dr Adelia Jansen van Rensburg, Chair of the WTO–WCP at North-West University (NWU). The conference took place from 2 to 4 July 2025. Her presence underscored NWU’s active participation in global trade-policy dialogue. During the conference, Prof Carli Bezuidenhout had the honour of meeting WTO Deputy Director General Xiangchen Zhang (China) and South Africa’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO, Mzukisi Qobo.
Prof Carli Bezuidenhout is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Economic Sciences at NWU’s Potchefstroom Campus, where she teaches Economics and International Trade. Her research focuses on South African export behaviour. In 2025, she co authored an important study titled “Keeping the momentum in South Africa’s intensive export growth margin”. The study sheds light on how South Africa can strategically exploit under-utilised export opportunities — not only by diversifying products and markets, but by intensifying exports of existing products to existing markets.
Prof Carli Bezuidenhout’s participation at the 2025 WTO WCP Annual Conference reinforces NWU’s commitment to bridging academic research and international trade policy.