Consultant on Trade Analysis Support for Saudi Arabia

Support the development of trade simulators for Saudi Arabia.

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UNESCWA - Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

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Application deadline 6 months ago: Friday 28 Nov 2025 at 04:59 UTC

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Overview

Support the development of trade simulators for Saudi Arabia.

You have:

  • A Bachelor's degree in Economics, Finance or Applied Economics is required.
  • A Master's in Economics or Finance is desirable.
  • Four years of experience in trade research and policy analysis are required.
  • At least three years of experience in using trade aggregation tools such as SAS or TASTE.
  • Expertise in global trade data and their integration in trade models are required.
  • At least two years of experience in ex-ante assessment of trade agreements with global CGE models experience.
  • Experience in writing technical documentation and policy-oriented research outputs is required.
  • Familiarity with sectoral mapping techniques for trade simulation preparation.
  • Exposure to capacity-building activities for government officials is required.
  • Knowledge of programming software for data analysis and visualization is desirable.
  • Fluency in Arabic is required for the position.
  • Fluency in English is required.
  • Knowledge of French is desirable.

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Result of Service

The objective of this consultancy is to support the development of the three interconnected trade simulators by contributing to database development and balancing, model’s building, user friendly interfaces development, and capacity building activities.

Work Location

UN House ESCWA

Expected duration

3 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background The Ministry of Economy and Planning MEP of Saudi Arabia have been playing a more proactive role in shaping the country's economic vision and navigating the complexities of an increasingly interconnected regional and global economies. As Saudi Arabia deepens its integration into global trade networks and pursues economic diversification under Vision 2030, the ability to evaluate new trade policies and external economic shocks in a timely, data-driven, and systematic manner has become critical. In this context, ESCWA partnered with the MEP to strengthen its technical capacity for trade policy analysis. One of the key pillars of this effort is the development of advanced trade simulators at global, regional and national levels that can inform strategic decision-making on optimal future integration schemes. Duties and Responsibilities The following activities will be implemented by the consultant: 1. Support the building of the new global trade simulator interface through the development of the updated and tailored new global database for the new reference year, the baseline scenario, the selection of functional parameters, and testing of the model and its interface. robustness. 2. Undertake simulations at the request of the MEP using the new model and its interface, extract results and prepare notes on impacts of trade reforms and shocks. 3. Prepares methodological notes, user guides, and training content to support national teams in effectively using the trade simulation interfaces. 4. Support the development of trade negotiations scenarios for simulation purpose through translating detailed negotiation offers at HS10 to GTAP’ sectors using appropriate tools such as TASTE, GTAP, and other data aggregation techniques.

Qualifications/special skills

A Bachelor's degree in Economics, Finance or Applied Economics is required. A Master's in Economics or Finance is desirable. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Four years of experience in trade research and policy analysis are required. At least three years of experience in using trade aggregation tools such as SAS or/and TASTE to map tariffs from product levels (HS) to sectoral level and expertise in global trade data (trade flows and trade barriers from TradeMap, MacMap, COMTRADE, GTAP database and model in Trade analysis) and their integration in trade models are required. At least two years of experience in ex-ante assessment of trade agreements and policy scenarios with proven experience in using global CGE models and corresponding software (GEMPACK, GAMS) are required. Experience in writing technical documentation, methodological summaries and policy-oriented research outputs and Familiarity with sectoral mapping techniques used in input preparation for trade simulation. in addition to Exposure to capacity-building or technical support activities for government officials is required. Knowledge of programming software for data analysis and visualization (e.g., Python, R) is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations secretariat and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in Arabic is required, as most documents to be provided by the Ministry are in Arabic. Fluency in English and Arabic is required. Knowledge of French is desirable. Notes: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

Potential interview questions

Describe your experience with trade aggregation tools like SAS or TASTE. The interviewer wants to understand your direct experience and capability with essential tools for this role. Provide specific examples of projects where you used these tools.
Explain a complex trade policy analysis problem you solved. This assesses your analytical skills and approach to trade policy issues. Pro members can see the explanation.
How do you ensure the reliability of data used in trade simulation models? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
What is your approach to writing technical documentation for complex models? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
Can you give an example of a trade agreement assessment you've conducted? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
How do you handle capacity-building activities for government officials? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
What tools do you use for data analysis and visualization? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
Discuss a successful trade simulation scenario you developed. Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
Added 6 months ago - Updated 6 months ago - Source: careers.un.org