1. School of International Relations (SIR) -Master courses on regional studies and diplomacy in int’l organizations -Short term courses for Iranian officials and business community -Training for foreign diplomats

2. Master on Diplomacy in International Economic Organizations School of International Relations Tehran, Iran Mehdi Fakheri Assistant Professor Email:fakheri@ties.itu.ch fakheri@sir.ac.ir

3. Objectives -Awareness building on the world economic trends -Sensitizing authorities on the economic dimension of security -Capacity building in government and business community -To produce literature and materials on WTO issues -To promote public-private linkage on the accession

4. Challenges :Intellectual -Lack of serious discussion on int’l trade in the government -Lack of graduate courses on int’l economics and int’l trade -Lack of specialized professors and researchers on specific WTO agreements -Shortage of literature in Persian on int’l trade and development related issues

5. Challenges:Institutional -Conflict of interest between different ministries and different universities -The structure and functioning of the MFA -

6. Challenges:Financial -Production of tools and materials -Exchange of professors and students -Participation in int’l trade negotiations

7. Expectations from VI - Networking of trainers and researchers -Joint research projects - Contribution to UNCTAD analytical work - Cooperation with other VI members - Titles and certificates