On the afternoon of September 8, the first opening ceremony for the Master of WTO Law and Economics (MWLE) program was held in Room 222, Administration Building. More than 60 people attended the event, including Professor Zhao Zhongxiu, Vice President of UIBE, Professor Li Yinghai, Vice Dean of the School of International Education, Professor Tu Xinquan, Dean of CIWTO, Gao Yuan, Vice Dean of CIWTO, faculty and students of CIWTO attended the event. Professor Tu Xinquan hosted the opening ceremony.
    The ceremony began with a welcome speech given by Professor Zhao Zhongxiu. He welcomed the twenty students who come from Laos, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Mongolia, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh to study in CIWTO at our university.
    Dean Tu Xinquan gave an introduction to the Master of WTO Law and Economics (MWLE) program. He introduced that it is a cooperative program designed by Ministry of Commerce and the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in the fields of faculty, curriculum and project design, and is based on the professional faculties and rich teaching experience of CIWTO, which is a key Humanities and Social Sciences Research Base granted by Ministry of Education. This program aims to enhance the capacity and overall competitiveness of the people from countries alongside the Belt and Road Initiative to involve in decision-making of the multilateral trading system in the new global pattern of governance and prepare personnel resources and promote effective interaction for China and other WTO members. Meanwhile, the program also aims to provide strong support for our country in facilitating the Belt and Road Initiative and carry out targeted "trade aid" to alongside countries and promote South-South cooperation.     Then Anastaslla Sakhid Akova from Russia spoke as a student representative. She sincerely expressed her expectation for the coming two year's study in CIWTO and the passion for the research in WTO-related fields.     Next, Zhao Zhongxiu, Vice President of UIBE, Li Yinghai, Vice Dean of the School of International Education, Tu Xinquan, Dean of CIWTO, Gao Yuan, Vice Dean of CIWTO, and Professor Zhou Nianli and Dr. Lu Yue (representatives of CIWTO faculty) presented CIWTO badges to all the international students. Chinese student representatives and international student representatives also exchanged gifts with each other.  
    Then, as the first lecture of the program, Yang Guohua, Professor of Law at Tsinghua University and Former Deputy Director of the Department of Treaty and Law of Ministry of Commerce, was invited to give a lecture on WTO. Professor Yang's speech included four open questions: "What is WTO", "Where is WTO", "Why is it important" and "Why is it important to China". These four questions led to a heated discussion among Professor Yang and the students present. At the end of the lecture, Professor Yang concluded that WTO played an important role in China's economic development, as well as the development of rules of law in China.
    Finally, Professor Tu Xinquan made closing remarks and he hoped that all the MWLE students would enjoy their study and life in UIBE and strive to become a competent and creative person contributing to the development of WTO law and economics. With his best wishes to the 20 international students, the fist opening ceremony of MWEL program came to a successful close.  
Translator: LIU Zhiying Reviser: HUANG Yu