© International
Trade Centre, International Trade Forum - Issue 1/2003
New TPO awards and innovative export management
approaches will mark the next gathering, which will take place in
Malta in 2004.
"Thinking outside of the box" will be the driving
concept behind the next World Conference of Trade Promotion
Organizations, which will be held in Malta in the last quarter of
2004. The event will be co-hosted by the Malta External Trade
Corporation (METCO) and ITC.
From Beijing to Malta
The conference, the fifth in a series, serves as an opportunity
for TPO leaders to debate new trends, exchange views on best
practices and to network internationally, regionally and
bilaterally. The World Conference of Trade Promotion Organizations
is held every two years. Previous meetings took place in Cartagena,
Colombia in 1996; Santiago, Chile in 1998; Marrakech, Morocco in
2000 and Beijing, China in 2002.
Innovative trade promotion
Stephen Sultana, Chief Executive Officer of METCO, met with J.
Denis Bélisle, ITC's Executive Director, and ITC senior staff in
March to plan the event. Before meeting, they sounded out TPO
leaders active in regional TPO groupings, in order to develop an
agenda that reflects the interests of TPOs around the world.
TPO leaders are looking to discuss cutting-edge, innovative
approaches that boost national exports. Generating income,
exploring trade and investment linkages, expanding networking
avenues, encouraging innovation, building synergies and developing
business advocacy skills for trade negotiations are among the
topics under consideration. What the topics have in common is that
they require lateral thinking, new approaches and a comparison of
TPO experiences from around the world.
New TPO awards
The first awards competition for TPOs worldwide will be launched
at the next World Conference of Trade Promotion Organizations. An
interregional panel of judges from the TPO community will review
candidatures for the awards and make the final decisions. The
criteria for entering the competition will be published in Forum
magazine towards the end of 2003. TPOs will be invited to submit
their entries for the awards in early 2004.
For more information, contact Stephen Sultana, CEO, METCO at
stephen.sultana@metco.net
or Philip Williams, ITC Senior Adviser on Institutional Aspects of
Trade Promotion, at williams@intracen.org