Director-General Roberto Azevêdo welcomed the first cohort of young professionals at an inauguration ceremony of the WTO Young Professionals Programme.
The WTO Young Professionals Programme was launched in 2016 with the aim of enhancing the knowledge and skills on WTO issues of young professionals from developing and least developed countries — especially from WTO members that are not currently represented at the professional level in the WTO Secretariat.
By allowing these young professionals to get to know our work and to contribute to our activities, this Programme can help to widen the pool of qualified applicants for future recruitment exercises at the WTO, and elsewhere.
DG Azevêdo encouraged the young professionals to develop their knowledge, skills and experience during the 12-month placement at the WTO, and to help spread the knowledge of the WTO back home.
The first cohort of five young professionals has been selected from a total of 848 candidates after a competitive, merit-based selection process. They started working in the WTO in early 2017 and will spend one year in the WTO Secretariat to learn about the WTO’s work and to contribute to its activities.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.