WORLD TRADE UNIVERSITY LAUNCHED DURING ‘SUMMIT OF YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS’ AT BRUSSELS CONFERENCE ON LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Third UN Conference on LDCs
17 May 2001 - PM





BRUSSELS, 17 May -- The World Trade University -- a mechanism to help foster a broader understanding of the multilateral trade system among young people throughout the world -- was launched today in Brussels at the Third United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries.

The launch took place at a meeting of the Eighth World Summit of Young Entrepreneurs, a United Nations Global Partnership Programme involving governments, multilateral agencies, and multinational corporations created to influence the issues concerning emerging young entrepreneurs. During today’s Summit, participants were also briefed by professors from York University in Canada on online entrepreneurial training projects and “tool kits” -- information packets dedicated to improving the knowledge of entrepreneurs -- and a presentation was made on small- and medium-sized enterprises in international export markets.

The University, which will be based in Toronto, with campuses in Asia and Africa, will serve as an institution of higher learning that is affordable, accessible and adapted to the present-day training needs of entrepreneurs and policy-makers from least developed countries (LDCs), developing countries and countries in transition.

Mike Moore, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), welcomed the University and emphasized the important role it would play in capacity-building throughout the world. There were a lot of misunderstandings about the value of the multilateral trading system, which had helped to establish peace, security and stability, and the University would help to redress that, he said. Stressing that new technology was the “great liberating force of the century”, he endorsed the University’s intention to use the Internet for its courses.

Zephirin Diabra, Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), underlined the difficulty of the task facing entrepreneurs in moving forward in national and international markets and endorsed the creation of the University to help them make progress. He hoped the University would be a powerful tool for development.

Maria Minna, Minister for International Cooperation of Canada, said the University would potentially be a great help to developing countries. Poor countries must use the international trade system to their benefit, she stressed.

The representative of Iran, Chairman of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, and Jean-Denis Belisle, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, were among the other speakers who expressed their support for the University.

At the outset of the Summit, participants discussed the role entrepreneurs could play in global efforts to promote economic growth and reduce poverty. In doing so, speakers linked the economic success of young entrepreneurs to that of societies as a whole. They also underlined the importance of their contribution in dealing with the problems facing LDCs, especially in promoting sustainable development, environmental concerns and economic stability.

One speaker stressed that entrepreneurial success should be based on the ethical and moral imperatives of society. As they built their own private futures, entrepreneurs should not forget their debt to society and their economy. In that way, they would become part of the development paradigm.

In her opening address, Ngeunsay, Princess of Brancovan, Patron of the Summit, noted the appropriateness of Brussels -- a cradle of economic activity and enterprise and home of the European Union -- as the venue for the event. The Union had done much and should increase its efforts to promote enterprise and cooperation. Recent measures to lower tariff barriers to developing countries were a good start, and she looked forward to more. The example set by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in involving the private sector in the LDC Conference provided hope that relations with the public sector would change.

Noel J. Brown, Board of Directors, Trust for the Americas, noted the sustained character of the entrepreneurs’ vision, as witnessed by the fact that this was their eighth summit. They had had many successes and proved highly capable at making connections and networking. Drawing attention to their dedication to the young entrepreneurs’ agenda, he pointed out that some participants had gone as far as to mortgage their homes to be able to attend the young entrepreneur summits in the past.

Sujit Chowdhury, Secretary-General and moderator of the Summit, said the Conference would provide the entrepreneurs present with a chance to influence the intergovernmental proceedings occurring at the Conference. They should also assert themselves at home to create conditions more favourable to growth, as their success was directly linked to that of their societies.

Awni Behnam, UNCTAD, said the Summit was an integral part of the design and concept of the Conference and this was not an accident. The Conference sought to create a new synergy among the actors that would have an impact on the development process. Without bringing all the voices together, the objective of achieving development could not occur. The entrepreneurs attendance at the Conference boded well for the future.

Pierre Guislan, Programme Manager, Private Sector Advisory Services, Europe, World Bank, said the Bank was involved in most of the participants’ countries. It was both a development agency and a lender. The Bank’s main function was to combat poverty, and young entrepreneurs had a critical role to play in achieving the needed economic growth. The Bank worked towards achieving fair access to markets, both nationally and internationally, and he urged those present to lobby governments to work for a more open trading environment and to discourage domestic protection.

The Summit concluded with a training session on strategic planning and an exchange of views, during which speakers addressed the issue of child labour, stressing, as they did so, that education was the engine forsustainable development. Another point raised was that development could
help engender political change.

During a break in the proceedings, participants met with Philip, Crown Prince of Belgium.

At 10 a.m. Friday, 18 May, in another of the Conference’s parallel events, a forum on the digital economy will be held.




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