This eight-week training course, conducted in line with the WTO biennial Technical Assistance and Training Plan for 2022-2023, is primarily designed to enable government officials from developing economies and least-developed countries to gain a better understanding of WTO agreements, trade policy formulation and implementation, and conduct of trade negotiations. The Advanced Trade Policy Course is the highest level of training provided under the WTO Technical Assistance Progressive Learning Strategy and seeks to ensure that WTO technical assistance beneficiaries can help their governments fully exercise their rights and obligations as WTO members.
The training programme, which kicked off in early June, provided a curriculum made up of interactive sessions combining theory, case studies and simulations, workshops, study visits and round tables.
“The Advanced Trade Policy Course surpassed my expectations. The simulations of practical cases, including trade negotiations, helped us to prepare and project ourselves into concrete professional situations,” said Holy Mamisoa Randriamifidy, Head of the Bilateral Relations Division at the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and Consumption of Madagascar. “As an expert in trade policy, I am coming away with stronger analytical and negotiation skills.”
Myrlande Ignounga Mounguengui, Head of Trade Studies at Gabon’s Ministry of Trade, said she now better appreciates the importance of international standards and the harmonisation of trade rules in facilitating global trade.
“It has opened up my eyes to the profound impact that WTO trade rules can have on economic development and peace and stability,” she added.
“The course gave me a better understanding of the issues involved, and the relevance and international underpinnings of domestic trade legislation and regulations on which I rely when making decisions or advising my senior management,” said Seydou Kassogue, Deputy Director of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Mali.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the training programme, Etienne Oudot de Dainville, Permanent Delegate of France to the WTO, and Patron of the 30th Advanced Trade Policy Course, highlighted the importance of the training programme in strengthening the participants’ network of contacts.
“The relationships you have been able to forge here among yourselves, but also with speakers, members of the WTO Secretariat, mission delegates and other trade experts are valuable — these are people you will come across again in your professional life, people who can be useful to you and to whom you can also be useful,” he told participants.
Commenting on the smooth and successful completion of the course, Bridget Chilala, Director of the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC), praised participants’ dedication throughout the training programme.
“Through this course, and thanks to your involvement and commitment over the last eight weeks, we believe that you have gained not only the knowledge but also the insights and professional instincts that will help you to deal with any trade-related situation that comes your way,” she concluded.
Participants in the course came from Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia and Türkiye.
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