Historic participation for Bahrain in WTO Young Professional Program

Geneva, Dec. 9 (BNA): Bahrain's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva has expressed special pride in Bahrain's participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Young Professional Program (YPP) Dr. Yusuf Abdulkarim Bucheeri was speaking as he took part virtually in the closing ceremony of the YPP held under the patronage of WTO Deputy Director-General Yonov Frederick Agah. Maryam Abdulaziz Al Dosseri was the first Bahraini young woman to be selected to participate in the event granted by WTO to ten young leaders selected from thousands of applications from various countries to work and train with the organization's general secretariat. Speaking on behalf of the group, Maryam noted that this year's Young Professionals faced unique challenges and circumstances due to COVID-19 and admitted that the "ride was bumpy at times". Nevertheless, the 2020 experience "has been an extremely transformative year" for all participants. "Not only have we developed skills and expertise in the field of international trade policy, but we have also learned how integral trade is to global economic growth and progress – especially in light of the global pandemic and the path towards a stable global economic recovery," she said. “The broad experience and practical knowledge I have gained during my tenure here is invaluable and will serve me for many years to come. I look forward to applying the knowledge I have acquired at the Secretariat to my future career in international trade policy." In his speech, Bucheeri, shared Bahrain's pride in Maryam as the first Bahraini selected in the program. He thanked Agah for adopting the ambitious training program that aims to build the capacities of promising young leaders in international trade. Launched in 2016, the WTO Young Professionals Program is part of the WTO Secretariat's efforts to increase diversity and broaden the representation of the membership. The program puts a special focus on WTO members that are not currently represented at the professional level in the WTO Secretariat. The 2020 group included professionals from Albania, Bahrain, Cuba, Dominica, Fiji, Guyana, Israel, Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, North Macedonia and Singapore.