The course, organized jointly by the WTO Trade in Services Division and the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation, is offered as part of the WTO technical assistance and capacity building courses.  It is implemented within the WTO's Progressive Learning Strategy and represents "level 3" - the highest level of "specialist" training.

The purpose of this course was for the participants to deepen their understanding of the main provisions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); become familiar with sources of trade through services analytical tools; and consolidate their understanding of emerging services policy and negotiating issues, such as those relating to domestic regulation of services or e-commerce.

Pablo Nilo Donoso, Legal Advisor with the Services, Investment and Air Transport Department of Chile, said the course offered new insights into some of the services-related issues being discussed by WTO members. "It's very helpful to understand the new trends that have been discussed at the WTO, for example, services trade facilitation.  We also gained a better understanding of the interlinkage between services and investment and how we can regulate them in a clear manner."

Suphattharapratheep of the Department of Trade Negotiations at Thailand's Ministry of Commerce said the greater understanding of services trade gleaned from the course would help as Thailand steps up efforts to conclude new bilateral and regional free trade deals.  "I'm involved in FTA negotiations at the practical level," she noted.  "The variety of views expressed by the experts on the course is important. I think I learned a lot from their experiences. We're not just reading from textbooks."

Fahad Al Gharabally of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in Kuwait said the course was particularly helpful in gaining more knowledge about services-related issues related to e-commerce and investment.  "I learned a lot.  What I learned I'll take back home and apply it to my work, including in FTA and RTA negotiations we have coming up."

The programme of the course is here.

 List of the participants