37th WTO Trade Policy Course ends

Mr. Paul Rolian, Director of the Institute for Training and Technical Co-operation (ITTC), chaired the Diploma Ceremony held on the occasion of the closure of the 37th Trade Policy Course (Spanish) which was organized by the ITTC.

Twenty-one government officials from developing countries and least-developed countries concluded, on 21th July, a three-month immersion into the WTO. The 37th Trade Policy Course (TPC) was held in Geneva, at the WTO Headquarters.

In his address to the participants, Mr. Rolian congratulated the participants for completing the training programme. He invited them to transform the qualities and the spirit they had demonstrated during the courses into good and efficient work for their respective countries and expressed the hope that the knowledge and skills imparted to the participants during the course would be disseminated to as wide a public as possible. Paul Rolian invited the participants to keep alive the network of contacts, which has been consolidated during this Geneva-based activity, which took place during a crucial period of time of the trade negotiations carried out under the Doha Development Agenda.

On behalf of the participants of the 37th TPC, Mrs María Ana Elvia Saboya Torres from Colombia qualified the closing ceremony as being “not the end of a training activity, but the beginning of new challenges as professionals”. Mrs. Saboya highlighted that all the participants “are committed to the task of supporting the issue of development, because there is no secondary role for anyone, and we are all key players with a legitimate duty” and wished that “the seeds which will be sown by each participant will germinate in favour of development and bring a better wellbeing in our society”.

Trade Policy Courses are expected to promote a more active participation of beneficiary countries in the work of the Organization. Throughout the three-month training, officials become acquainted, through lectures, debates, attendance at WTO meetings and simulation exercises, with virtually all the issues dealt with within the framework of the WTO. Visits to other international organizations located in Geneva also provide an opportunity to become familiar with trade-related aspects of the work conducted by these organizations.

One more TPC will take place in Geneva from September to December 2006. Similar courses, organized in cooperation with regional academic partners, are currently being held in Morocco and Namibia, and the last Regional TPC will be held in Chile later this year. A series of shorter courses will complement the Geneva-based programme while a large number of national and regional technical cooperation activities will take place in the field as part of the 2006 WTO Technical Cooperation and Training Plan.
 

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37th WTO TRADE POLICY COURSE (in Spanish)
Geneva, 1 May — 21 July 2006