Regional Trade Policy Course 2019

Mauritius - 10 May 2019

Trade topics: Trade Policy

THE WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION REGIONAL TRADE POLICY COURSE RTPC (MAURITIUS) 2019
The WTO RTPC fits within the WTO’s Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) activities. These activies aim at enhancing the human and institutional capacity of Members. For them to take full advantage of their participation in the rules-based multilateral system, and be able to enforce their rights and obligations associated with their participation. The WTO-RTPC is a 8-weeks course organised by the WTO in partnership with regional institutions. The courses are co-delivered by officials from the WTO Secretariat, trade policy specialists and academic experts from the region. The participants, selected by the WTO upon recommendation from the governments, will be government officials from the region currently dealing with WTO issues.
The objectives of the RTPCs are to:
a. Deepen the participants’ understanding of the functioning of the WTO and its rules and procedures;
b. Enhance participants understanding of regional economic perspectives on trade policy and development; and
c. Develop their capacity to find relevant information and documents on WTO-related issues, including the use of the WTO legal texts.
After having provided excellent services last year in the organisation and delivery of the 2018 RTPC, the WTO is pursuing the collaboration with the University of Mauritius and the WCP (Mauritius) this year also. The course is due to start on Monday 29th April 2019 and end on Friday 21st June 2019. The WTO has already informed the UoM that 30 participants (27 foreigners and 3 local participants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) shall attend the course this year namely from Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mauritius. Several important topics will be covered during those eight weeks, amongst others: Agriculture, Tariffs and Customs Valuation, Accessions, Dispute Settlement, Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures, Technical Barriers to Trade, Trade in Services, Intellectual Property, Environmental and Development issues. All through the training, quizzes will be carried out to evaluate the knowledge of the participants before and after the modules are explained. The training is mostly in a paperless environment and all the materials are made available through a virtual classroom set up and administered by the University of Mauritius. The training will also include a professional visit. The opening ceremony was held on the 28th of April 2019 at the University of Mauritius in the presence of the Vice Chancellor of the University, the Director of Trade of the concerned ministry and representatives of the WTO. The last day of the training will be marked by participation His Excellency Dr. Frederik Agah, Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organisation as the Chief guest for the closing ceremony.