May 12^th, the Permanent Representative of Russia to the World Trade Organization in Geneva D.Lyakishev gave an online lecture devoted to "The multilateral trading system in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic".

The Head of the “Trade Regulation” Department V.Salamatov moderated the lecture, which dealt with the challenges linked to the multilateral system of regulating international trade and economic relations, how the new conditions will impact the multilateral trading system and the challenges faced by the WTO due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

D.Lyakishev spoke about the main priorities of the WTO during the last few years and months, emphasising the progress made. The speaker described the effects of the current crisis on international trade and its regulation, outlining the different options for overcoming the new challenges. He also shared with the audience the vision of different WTO experts on how events will develop after the pandemic and explained how it can help us develop an adapted Russian trade policy.

Upon completion of his talk, the lecturer took questions from students about how the rules of international trade can change and how this could affect Russia.

A discussion followed with the participation of students of the MA and MBA programs of the School of Business and International Proficiency.