BİLGİ Faculty of Law at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Chairs Programme

Assistant Professor Pinar Artiran, a member of İstanbul Bilgi University Law Faculty, has been admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Chairs Programme and thus became one of the twenty-one WTO chair holders worldwide. 

The WTO Chair Holder position that will be held by Asst. Prof. Dr. Pınar Artıran from BİLGİ Faculty of Law, aims at supporting and promoting trade-related academic activities by universities and research institutions in developing and least-developed countries. The project of BİLGİ Faculty of Law that was awarded the WTO Chair entails establishing an operational Research Centre on International Trade and Arbitration within the period of 2014-2018. 

WTO Chairs Programme, this year moving to its second phase, started in 2009 with 14 countries and only seven institutions were selected for the second phase of the Programme in May 2014. Assistant Professor Pinar Artiran of İstanbul Bilgi University Law Faculty, who has been successful after a long selection process, said: “Award of the Chair title, is a proof of İstanbul Bilgi University’s international success and its competence in international trade law. Through projected activities of our research centre, we are planning to help shaping an efficient and sustainable international trade policy on matters related to international trade law, arbitration and WTO in Turkey and in our region in broader sense. In this context, we shall collaborate with other academic and research institutions, chambers of commerce, consultancy firms which are active in the area of the international trade and thus are stakeholders. WTO Chair title is a very important and precious achievement not only for İstanbul Bilgi University but also for Turkey with the leading position that it assumes in its region”. 

The new Research Centre on International Trade and Arbitration will organize training programs within and outside the university, and trade and arbitration related research will be undertaken. By signing bilateral exchange and cooperation agreements with the other six WTO Chair Holder universities of the second phase, the international exchange of information will be encouraged. This project will thus further strengthen Turkey’s leading position in its region.