ITC and Department of Commerce successfully completes STATA Software Training

The International Trade Centre (ITC) in collaboration with the Department of Commerce (DoC) of Sri Lanka successfully completed a specialized training in September for 15 public sector officers and researchers on the globally acclaimed statistical software package STATA. 

The ITC – a joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and UN – conducted the training as part of the European Union (EU) funded EU–Sri Lanka Trade-Related Assistance Project, to empower participants and enhance their empirical analysis skills to drive Sri Lanka’s post COVID-19 economic and trade revival, according to a media release issued by the EU-Sri Lanka Trade-Related Assistance project. 

The training, conducted by University of Colombo Senior Lecturer Dr. Priyanga Dunusinghe and Dr. Dilini Hemachandra, Senior Lecturer at the University of Peradeniya, kicked off in February 2020 and covered 19 highly concentrated sessions over a seven-month period. Officers belonging to the DoC, Export Development Board (EDB), Department of Trade and Investment Policy (DTIP) and Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) participated in the training.

STATA is a powerful statistical software that enables users to analyze, manage and produce graphical visualizations of data. During the training, participants were educated on leveraging STATA to conduct a wide range of trade policy related analyses on trade flows and tariffs as well as economic modeling, general equilibrium and partial equilibrium. With their newfound knowledge and skill capacities, the participants were assigned research projects covering key export sectors such as spices, tea, textile and apparel, fisheries, rubber and electronics. 

These STATA-analyzed research findings on the impact of COVID-19 on Sri Lanka’s export sector were presented by the participants during the final session of the training, which was attended by Ananda Dharmapriya - Acting Director General of Commerce of the DoC, Ms. Kumudinie - Director/Policy & Strategic Planning of the EDB and Dr. Dayaratna Silva - National Project Coordinator of the EU-Sri Lanka Trade-Related Assistance Project. 
Speaking about the initiative, Dr. Silva mentioned that this training was organised following an initial request by the DoC and the objective was to enhance the analytical capacities of officers in undertaking empirical research in their day-to-day work, using STATA as a statistical tool.

Above: (From left) Dr. Dayaratna Silva, National Project Coordinator, EU-Sri Lanka Trade-Related Assistance; Ananda Dharmapriya, Acting Director General of Commerce, Department of Commerce; Dr. Priyanga Dunusinghe, Senior Lecturer, University of Colombo; Dr. Dilini Hemachandra, Senior Lecturer, University of Peradeniya; and Somasena Mahadiulwewa, Director of Commerce/Head of Bilateral Affairs Division, Department of Commerce at the concluding STATA training session.