World Trade Institute

The World Trade Institute (WTI) is a center of advanced studies hosted by the University of Bern, administered by the World Trade Institute Foundation, and associated with the University of Fribourg and the University of Neuchâtel. It is located in Bern, Switzerland, and directed by Professor Thomas Cottier.

As a center of graduate studies and a forum for interdisciplinary research and teaching in international trade law and economics, fostering interaction between students and professionals, the Institute allows researchers and practitioners to pool their expertise. The WTI offers a graduate master's program in international trade law and economics (MILE), a summer program of trade law, WTO accession training, an executive education program, and even tailor-made courses in trade regulation and economics. Most recently, the WTI has also become the headquarters for the NCCR Trade Regulation research initiative. The WTI also hosts an annual World Trade Forum conference where internationally renowned speakers and scholars - mostly lawyers and economists - discuss salient topics fo the world trading system. Papers, comments and conclusions from these conferences are published in the World Trade Forum Book Series.

The World Trade Institute is a foundation under Swiss law. It was formed by the Universities of Bern, Fribourg, and Neuchâtel, within the framework of the BeNeFri convention, which calls for closer cooperation between these three universities of the Swiss Mittelland. Privately and publicly funded, it is dedicated to capacity building and raising global awareness of international economic law and economics and has close ties to the Institute of European and International Economic Law (IEW) at the University of Berne.

External links

* The World Trade Institute's [http://www.worldtradeinstitute.ch/ website]
* The NCCR Trade Regulation project [http://www.nccr-trade.org/ website]