Using ESCAP’s Online Trade Intelligence and Negotiation Advisor (TINA) for Trade Negotiations

On 7-8 July 2021, the CAREC Institute and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) jointly conducted a two-day webinar on “Using Online Trade Intelligence and Negotiation Advisor for Trade Negotiations (TINA).”

TINA is an online tool developed by UNESCAP’s experts to assist trade policymakers, as well as researchers and consultants around the world, in performing the analytical tasks commonly delivered in preparation for trade negotiations.

After the welcoming remarks delivered by Mr. Syed Shakeel Shah, Director of the CAREC Institute and Dr. Yann Duval, Director of Trade, Investment and Innovation Division of UNESCAP, on the first day of the webinar, Dr. Alexey Kravchenko, Economic Affairs Officer at UNESCAP presented how to use TINA, talked about the statistical data and methodology used for TINA, how to generate an offensive list, a priority list of products for which a negotiator would need to insist on obtaining concessions during trade negotiations, and demonstrated a detailed analysis of outputs by six-digit harmonized system (HS) code, providing examples from CAREC member countries.

On the second day, Dr. Kravchenko presented the theoretical background of TINA, how to conduct tariff simulations using specific examples, and elaborated on TINA’s ongoing development. At the end of the webinar, Dr. Iskandar Abdullaev, Deputy Director of the CAREC Institute, concluded the session and delivered closing remarks.

The webinar was recorded and will be available at the CAREC Institute’s e-learning platform for anyone interested in the topic.