Official inauguration of WTO/University of Hong Kong Second Regional Trade Policy Course for the Asia/Pacific Region

Twenty-seven government officials from 27 Asia-Pacific countries are taking part in this course which is held at the University of Hong Kong from 18 April to 8 July 2005. The course has been designed with the needs of the Asia-Pacific region in mind and is delivered by both lecturers from the WTO and specialist lecturers from the region.

The RTPC was officially inaugurated by Mr. Paul Rolian, Director of the WTO Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation, and Professor Johannes Chan, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong. Representatives from the University of Hong Kong, General Consulates and the Hong Kong administration were also present at this occasion.

In his opening address, Professor Chan warmly welcomed the participants to the RTPC. The university was honoured to have been designated for the second time as a partner with the WTO in this important endeavour. The University of Hong Kong was committed to providing a first class training course by making the best resources available to the participants and introducing continuous innovations and improvements to the second RTPC. He also said that the RTPC this year was of particular significance since Hong Kong was to host the Ministerial Conference in December. He expressed the hope that the RTPC participants, with enhanced knowledge and skills on trade issues after their three-month training, would play a meaningful role in the trade round.

Mr. Rolian welcomed the participants on behalf the Director-General of the WTO. He expressed his gratitude to the University of Hong Kong for their supportive partnership and for the excellent collaboration provided in the organization of the first RTPC in 2004. He underlined the objectives of the course but also the overall context in which the RTPCs were held in different regions of the world with the view to providing a regional resource base for WTO matters. He recalled the main objective of the RTPC which is to widen participants' understanding of trade policy maters, the multilateral trading system, international trade law and the functioning of the WTO. Through the RTPC, it is expected to increase the number of government officials in the region with a solid foundation of knowledge on the WTO, allowing them to contribute to more active participation by their countries in the work of the WTO and to increase the capacity of governments in the region to articulate and promote their national interests.

RTPCs are part of the WTO's technical assistance and capacity building programme, and are modelled on three-month trade policy courses that have been organized by the GATT/WTO in Geneva for 50 years. They were first introduced in 2002 and have since been held in Africa, in the Caribbean and in Hong Kong, China. A RTPC for Latin America will be held later this year in Santiago, Chile.
  

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