The WTO Young Professionals Programme (YPP) is a unique opportunity for qualified young professionals from eligible developing and least-developed country (LDC) WTO Members, to enhance their knowledge and skills on WTO and international trade issues. The Programme aims to widen the pool of professionals from these countries who can later be more competitive with respect to recruitment in the WTO and/or other regional and international organizations.
This is a limited programme that offers selected young professionals with the opportunity to gain work experience in the WTO. The selected Young Professional will be placed in a specific Division of the WTO Secretariat in accordance with the needs and priorities of the Organization; and based on the identified areas of interest of the Young Professional. Each Young Professional may express interest in not more than three areas of WTO work; and in order of preference.
WTO Young Professionals Programme Areas of Work.
The areas of work may include, inter alia, the following (in alphabetical order):
- Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures
- Technical Barriers to Trade
- Trade and Development
- Trade and Environment
- Trade Facilitation
- Trade in Services and Investment
- Trade Policy Analysis
- Trade-Related Technical Assistance.
- Trade Remedies (anti-dumping and countervailing duties)
- Accessions
- Agriculture
- Council and Trade Negotiations
- Dispute Settlement
- Economic Research and Statistics
- Government Procurement
- Intellectual Property Rights
- Market Access (tariffs and non-tariff barriers)
- Media and External Relations
WTO Young Professionals Programme Eligibility.
- Applicants should have advanced university degree in law economics, or other international trade-related subjects relevant to the work of the WTO.
- Minimum two (2) years of professional experience relevant to the work of the WTO.
- General knowledge of the work of the WTO.
- Good drafting skills in English. Ability to draft in French and/or Spanish would be an advantage.
- Ability to work independently and in a team.
- Demonstrated strong interest in international trade and the multilateral trading system.
- Commitment and passion for trade or WTO-related work.
- Fluency in English. A good working knowledge either French or Spanish would be an advantage.
Additional Information
Preference shall be given to nationals from WTO Members without any representation at the professional level in the Secretariat; and have not participated in previous cohorts of the YPP. The list of such WTO Members as at 1 April 2020 is set out below:
Angola, Belize, Brunei Darussalam, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Congo, Djibouti, Eswatini, Gabon, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Kuwait, The State of Kyrgyz Republic, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Niger, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tonga, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Yemen.
WTO Young Professionals Programme Benefits.
- Selected applicants will receive CHF 3,500 monthly salary
How to Apply for WTO Young Professionals Programme.
All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter of motivation, which should indicate up to three areas of work, in order of preference, that the applicant would be interested in. Applications with no accompanying letter of motivation will not be considered.
