The International Trade Centre (ITC) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in collaboration with the China Association for Standardization (CAS) and the Qingdao Institute of Standardization, organized a two day training workshop (29-30 September, 2017) for experts and practitioners from private and public organizations, to learn about a portfolio of market analysis tools to increase resource efficiency and sustainability in supply chains. The training delivered expertise to companies that wish to develop their business operations and better access international markets, as well as a public-private dialogue platform to government and other stakeholders.
This training represents the first technical assistance activity that UNFSS embarked in the context of the China Voluntary Sustainability Standards National Platform. Launch of the China Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) National Platform, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China on June 27 2017
Photo: UNFSS Trainers Joeseph Wosniak (Head, T4SD, ITC), Mingcong Li (Expert, UNCTAD) and Santiago Fernandez de Cordoba, Senior Economist, UNFSS Coordinator, UNCTAD.
The workshop offered participants to learn about international trade, market access and supply chain standards, accessing ITC’s public tools and resources to get practical information to support market research and export strategies.
The workshop volved around discussions about the key challenges and opportunities faced by SMEs when it comes to developing an export strategy, identification of potential markets and complying with standards’ requirements and non-tariff measures in order to meet the buyers’ demand in such potential markets.
The UNCTAD and ITC trainers presented a portfolio of online resources that help clarify the complex landscape of international markets and support traders, manufacturers, brands, retailers and policy makers’ in taking well informed decisions and developing successful and sustainable export strategies.
The workshop was supported by CAS. As UNFSS counterpart in China, CAS aims to proliferate VSS, Chinese VSS National Platform and improve awareness and capacity building of VSS stakeholders. Qingdao Institute of Standardization was also co-organizer of this workshop.