Capacity building

Numerous institutions organize capacity development sessions for civil servants from DCs and LDCs. Among them are trainings provided by UNCTAD[65], WTO[66] or joint programmes, such as the Enhanced Integrated Framework[67].

Training and capacity building activities should however not be reserved to a selected small number of professionals or only the members of the negotiating team. The objective is to enlarge the "knowledge base" by training new civil servants on international trade related issues, in particular those coming from sectoral ministries or administrations dealing with international trade issues. Among these, we can point out:

• Ministry of Economy and Finance and/or Central Bank;
• Ministry of Telecommunications;
• Ministry of Tourism;
• Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries;
• Ministry of Industry;
• Office in charge of intellectual property rights;
• Customs;
• Any administrative body that you would have identified as relevant in the context of international trade negotiations.

Having a larger number of officials trained on WTO-related issues ensures that the information coming from sectoral ministries to the negotiating team will be relevant. It also allows creating a safety net in terms of expertise, when the first generation of experienced officials will have to quit the negotiating process, in particular since the Ministry of Trade, usually the focal point for international trade negotiations, does at times not have the necessary political clout and is often institutionally weak and understaffed.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20