WTO Chief of Trade Agreements in Colombo today at pioneering DoC meet

From left: Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen, Counsellor of the Regional Trade Agreements division of WTO Joann Crawford and Chief of the Regional Trade Agreements Division of WTO Rohini Acharya 

Two top WTO officials, among them the Chief of Trade Agreements, are in town for a high-level trade information session organised by the Department of Commerce in Colombo today. 

“Regional Trade Agreements cover a wide range of WTO members and are a major player in today’s global trade,” said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen, welcoming the high level WTO trade experts to Colombo. 

“WTO has always been supporting Sri Lanka’s trade development for which we thank them.”

The Chief of the Regional Trade Agreements Division of WTO, Rohini Acharya, has a PhD in Economics and joined the WTO’s Trade Policies Review Division in 1996, becoming Chief of its Regional Trade Agreements section in January 2007. 

Previously she worked as Senior Research Fellow at the International Economics Programme of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London. Her work at the WTO has included the trade policy reviews of several WTO members, including Australia, Egypt, India, New Zealand and Singapore, and the first trade policy review of China. Jo- Ann Crwford (MA in Economics) is the author of a number of studies on RTAs and has also worked on several trade policy reviews, including that of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). She is an economist and has been with the RTA Section of the Trade Policies Review Division since 1997.

The two-day workshop ending on 11 October is organised by the Department of Commerce and will include top officials and participants from the Central Bank, the Treasury, BOI and representatives from five chambers and nine Lankan corporates involved in exports.