Tuition and Trade: Board of Trade official calls WTU campus timely

Derrick Penner

Vancouver Sun

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Establishment of a World Trade University campus in B.C. is "entirely timely and appropriate" for B.C.'s efforts to strengthen international trade, the executive director of the Vancouver Board of Trade said Tuesday.

Darcy Rezac, who attended the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the challenge of creating equitable, globalized trade was a key topic of discussion at the forum.

The provincial government announced in Tuesday's throne speech that Chilliwack will be home to the United Nations-sponsored WTU, which will offer graduate-level programs in trade-related fields such as tourism, insurance and finance.

It will also host international conferences and Premier Gordon Campbell billed it as a major component of his initiative to foster stronger trade relations with Asia.

The website says the WTU grew out of discussion at the World Trade Organization's 1999 meeting in Seattle, where delegates recognized that unless such action was taken, "opportunities for growth and shared prosperity among all nations . . . would ultimately be missed."

Chilliwack Mayor Clint Hames said the WTU will be part of the university park the town is developing using a former Canadian Forces base that was abandoned in the late 1990s as part of military downsizing.

"This is huge," Hames said. "[The WTU] is a major piece of the puzzle that we're developing with respect to the university park."

Back to Media Coverage