World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization — the WTO — is the international organization whose primary purpose is to open trade for the benefit of all. The WTO provides a forum for negotiating agreements aimed at reducing obstacles to international trade and ensuring a level playing field for all, thus contributing to economic growth and development. The WTO also provides a legal and institutional framework for the implementation and monitoring of these agreements, as well as for settling disputes arising from their interpretation and application.

Working with WTO

WTO employs 634 regular staff at its headquarters, 334 of whom are women and 300 are men. 78 nationalities are represented.

Sought profiles

Candidates willing to work with WTO should be a national of a WTO member state and be under 65 years old. WTO’s professional staff are generally economists and lawyers in international trade policy. A person wishing to apply for such a position in the Secretariat should possess a post-graduate university degree in economics, international relations or law, with an emphasis on trade issues. The academic qualifications should be supplemented by at least five years’ experience with a national government, with an international organisation or with other organisations or enterprises dealing with issues of trade policy and international trade relations.

Occasional needs arise for expertise in activities such as administration, information technology and translation. Professionals in these areas need to have an advanced degree in a specialisation, such as human resources management, information science, translation, etc.

Opportunities for students and junior professionals

WTO offers internship of up to 24 weeks in Geneva. Candidates must fulfil the following requirements:

Be a national of a WTO member state.
Have completed undergraduate studies in a relevant discipline (e.g. economics, law, political science, international relations) and have completed at least one year of their postgraduate studies.
Be between 21- 30 years of age
Further information

In 2016, the WTO launched the Young Professional Programme (YPPYoung Professionals Programme ). The first cohort of young professionals started their 12-month assignments in January 2017. The internship programmes and the YPP are both designed to increase the diversity of the WTO.

Vacant positions