The Vi is today 20 strong, after admission of the Institute of International Studies (IEI) of the University of Chile into the group.
IEI's membership is due in part to networking efforts between the Vi central team and Vi member university Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO) of Argentina.
Seventy-four-years-young Belarus State Economic University today became Vi's 19th member university and the second, along with Ukraine's Vadym Hetman Kiev National Economic University, from a transition economy.
Interest in joining the Vi network started in September 2006, when BSEU's Vice-Dean of Finance and Banking participated in the UNCTAD Course on Key International Economic Issues held in Belgrade.
Cairo University's Faculty of Economics and Political Science today became Vi's 18th university member with the finalization of an application process resulting from a mission conducted by Vi Chief's Vlasta Macku in February.
The faculty, with approximately 300 students in undergraduate, masters and PhD programmes, is the 6th African university of the network, along with Senegal, Mozambique, Tanzania, Mauritius and South Africa.
The UNCTAD Virtual Institute organized a half-day information and training session focusing on foreign direct investment and globalization and development strategies, for 12 postgraduate students and professors from St. Petersburg State University.
The study tour, held in Geneva on Wednesday, April 18, was organized in the framework of cooperation between the UNCTAD Virtual Institute and the World Trade Organization's Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation.
The Vi is pleased to welcome the Investment and Trade Policy Centre (ITPC) of the Department of Economics at the University of Pretoria as its 17th core member.
Established in 2002, its core services are conducting research and providing training in a range of trade and trade-related areas. The centre focuses primarily on the development of competencies and capacity in the areas of investment and trade policy that would allow developing countries to efficiently negotiate their countries' position in the global trade and investment arena.
