International trade is not only vital, but also a very exciting area which connects experts worldwide.
International trade plays an important role in a country’s economic development. At the same time, steady growth of international trade would not be possible without the harmonisation of practices among countries and trading partners.
Over the years, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has developed a number of internationally recognised standards and principles that help importers and exporters as well as their financiers to find common ground and apply the trading terms consistently.
The TFP/ICC joint workshop was delivered by Vincent O’Brien of the ICC. It was developed by the TFP with the aim of providing players in the international trade supply chain with the foundation knowledge in international trade and finance in order to expand their business in international markets.
The initiative received a warm welcome from Romania’s major banks, which attended the event and took an active role in the discussions.
The topics covered included international contract terms, methods of payments and types of trade finance instruments, all of which was combined with the review of advanced and complicated case studies.
While the most technical and sophisticated matters were discussed, the atmosphere was very friendly and cheerful. This showed that international trade is not only vital, but also a very exciting area which connects experts worldwide.
This workshop has the valuable additional feature of acting as a preparation event for participants who may wish to acquire an internationally recognised qualification, namely the Certificate in International Trade and Finance (CITF), which was developed by the London Institute of Banking and Finance (LIBF) in partnership with the ICC.
At the end of the workshop participants had an opportunity to test their knowledge gained during the workshop by attempting to solve questions from the CITF exam.
This unique collaboration between the TFP, ICC and LIBF brought together trade finance experts to promote international principles and networking in the economies where the EBRD invests, to overcome common challenges.
Over the last few years the TFP has organised CITF workshops in a number of jurisdictions and we hope that this will not only promote the application of international trade standards and practices in the EBRD regions, but will also serve as a base for networking and facilitating trade between countries.
And last but not least, we wish the best of luck to those participants who decided to pursue the CITF qualification and sit the CITF examinations!
