The World Trade Organization has chosen Bogotá's Universidad Sergio Arboleda to host its regional courses on trade policy for Latin America for the next three years. The university's bid came on top out of the 16 proposals received from countries in the region.

"This is without doubt good news," said Dr. Rodrigo Noguera, university Rector. "It represents for the university the enhancement of its institutional capacity, through the WTO secretariat's training and consolidating of our human resources to offer training and research programs on international trade."

The UNCTAD Virtual Institute and the Work Programme on International Investment Agreements (IIAs) are organizing a workshop on the Teaching and Research of International Investment Agreements.

Based on the Vi's teaching material on Legal and Economic Aspects of IIAs, the workshop has been designed for academic and research institutions in English-speaking developing, and particularly least developed, countries in Africa.

Deadline for applications is September 22.

Vi members in the Western Asian region are invited to apply for the next UNCTAD Course on International Economic Issues to be held in Manama, Bahrain, from October 26 to November 13.

Since 2006, about 25 Vi members have taken part in the courses, originally designed exclusively for government officials in ministries and trade-related institutions.

Together with my students I have organized a workshop, watched and discussed the materials of the video-lecture, "US housing cycle, financial instability and commodity prices: Navigating the economic storm."

All the students participating in the seminar are the students of final year and are studying international economy. So, they not only have the necessary economic background, but also are extremely interested in the problems discussed.

The Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University, in Matieland, South Africa, is the latest to join the Virtual Institute. The department has a rich tradition of policy-oriented research aimed at issues pertaining to Africa and South Africa.

"The university values its association with the Virtual Institute highly," writes Vi member coordinator, Johan Fourie. "And, in growing partnership with the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa, which is also based in Stellenbosch and other South African universities, hopes to inspire a new generation of trade economists to tackle the challenges facing developing economies."