RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/COMTD/W/68
23 February 2000
(00-0666)
Committee on Trade and Development
Twenty-eighth Session
REPORT ON TRAINING - TRADE POLICY COURSES 1999
Note by the Secretariat
WTO's technical cooperation activities are geared towards enhancing human capacity building,
largely through training. The regular Trade Policy Courses (TPCs) are considered effective tools in
assisting developing countries as well as countries  in accession, be they least-developed countries or
economies in transition, integrate in or familiarize th emselves with the multilateral trading system.  The
training courses address all aspects of the trading sy stem and through their practical orientation prepare
officials in implementing the WTO Agreements  in their national administrations and participate more
actively and effectively in the mu ltilateral trading system. Working re lations between the participants
and the WTO Secretariat in many cases continue af ter the incumbents have taken up duties in their
national administration, particularly when the officials have responsibilities in the area of trade policy or
even more so when they are posted to Geneva and/or to the WTO. Given the Members' oft-reaffirmed
usefulness of the training courses, several WTO Members are financing specific training programmes
undertaken by the WTO Secretariat. Recipients also  insist on their importance as a training tool.
Objectives
The overall objective of the regular Trade Policy Courses is to widen the participating
officials' understanding of trade policy matters, the multilateral trading system, international trade law
and the functioning of the WTO. The knowledge acquired is expected to allow participating officials
to improve the effectiveness of their work in thei r own administrations and to promote a more active
participation of their countries in the work of the WTO.
Specific objectives correspond to the main course components, e.g., presentations and
discussions on WTO agreements to acquaint participants with their content and legal/trade policy
implications; negotiation simulations to help participants understand the psychology, process and
substance of trade negotiations; dispute settlement exercises to facilitate practical understanding of
how cases are prepared and disputes resolved; visi ts to other international organizations located in
Geneva to understand policy linkages between the work conducted at the WTO and other
international institutions; and study tours abroad and in Switzerland to understand other governments'
trade policy formulation and implementation practices and their implications on private firms.
Content of Courses
The Trade Policy Courses are designed to meet both the overall and specific objectives.  The
programme of the regular TPCs is comprehensive and consists of various theoretical and practical
components designed to explain the trade policy context of the WTO as well as its key functions:
facilitating the implementation and operation of the Multilateral Trade Agreements;  providing aforum for negotiations;  administering the understanding on dispute settlement and the TPR
mechanism;  and cooperating with the World Bank and the IMF to achieve greater coherence in
global economic policy-making.  Given its role and expertise, the WTO Secretariat, in close
cooperation with other relevant organizations  (UNCTAD, ITC, WIPO, ITU, WCO, ICC and  ISO), isWT/COMTD/W/68
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well placed to plan and deliver this kind of specialized training service to officials from eligible
Members and observer countries.
The programme for economies in transition elaborated in coordination with the trust fund
donors was more specific as it was tailored to understanding accession-related issues.  (A fulldescription of WTO Trade Policy Courses is available on the WTO home page:  www.wto.org under
the heading Trade Policy Courses).
Overall assessment of the regular Trade Policy Courses
Selection of participants
Current practice:  WTO Trade Policy Courses are open to government officials from
developing and least-developed countries and economies in transition. Officials most likely to benefit
from the training are currently working in the field of foreign trade policy who need to obtain a wider
knowledge of the WTO and the multilateral trading sy stem before assuming further responsibilities in
this field.
Emphasis is laid on getting clear informa tion from governments on the following questions
regarding their nominees for the courses:  relevance of the course to the current or immediately
prospective duties of a nominee;  use by the nominee of knowledge and skills gained on the course
upon returning to work;  expectations regarding th e nominees' future positions and ability to make
significant impact in the relevant ministry;  assessment of the nominee's language (WTO working
languages) skills including ability to grasp technical/legal/economic vocabulary. The above criteria
are spelled out in the invitation sent to governments for nomination of candidates and in the
application form for candidatures.  On the basis of the information received, the Secretariat selects the
most suitable candidates.
Given the large number of applicants (over 300) and applying countries (more than 150), a
serious effort is made to offer at least one fellowship per WTO Member or Observer country over a
cycle of two years.
Course delivery and programme assessment
Throughout the TPCs, all participants are asked to prepare several evaluation reports.  The
method is based on weekly questionnaires covering each  course component together with an end-of-
course comprehensive questionnaire. Discussion sessions are held at the middle and the end of thecourses on the programme of the course.  This form of evaluation gives the Training Division
feedback on the value of the information and knowledge received by the participants and on whether
the specific objectives of that component were met.  Conclusions are then drawn with a view to
making concrete improvements to the next course, i.e., discarding course elements perceived to be
redundant and adapting existing components or developing new ones.
Detailed reports are available from the Secretariat regarding previous courses, and the general
trend seems to be that participants highly value the TPCs, although useful and constructive criticism is
always received (i.e. more emphasis has been requested on more participatory and practical
exercises).  The Training Division, in close cooperat ion with operational divisions of the Secretariat,
has therefore developed, as part of its continuous adaptation, a course curriculum and training
material containing more practical exercises in which participants perform individually or in teams.
This type of internal evaluation, based on the  participant's perceptions and the Training
Division's insights and experience, relates to the quality of course components and their specific
training objectives and how to make continuous improvements to them.WT/COMTD/W/68
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Course follow-up
More active interaction between training (capacity building) and country-based technical
assistance is currently being introduced in cooperation with other organizations which provide
technical cooperation.  The Training Division is progressively moving in the direction of seekingmore inputs on the impact of its activities with the assistance of the recipient governments.
In this regard, an important measure of how well the trade policy courses meet the overall
training objective would lie on identifiable improvements back on the job.  This aspect of evaluation
is currently under consideration in the Training Division.  To this end, The Training Division iscurrently developing a post-course evaluation system (for the post-course phase) with a view to
measuring the effectiveness of the training provided and received.  The foundation of this is the
establishment of a data base through which the Training Division will try to follow, for a reasonable
period of time, the careers of the course participants.  This database has been completed and a
certification process was initiated in October 1999 which is still going on.  Once completed, the
information gathered will help provide answers to, inter alia , the following questions:  Do participants
stay in their jobs when they have completed the co urse?  To what extent are they engaged directly in
WTO work?  What percentage of participants are promoted after having applied the knowledge they
acquired during the course in day-to-day work?  How many participants return to Geneva as
delegates?  How do participants further their knowledge of the WTO having completed the trade
policy courses?
The Training Division is contemplating involving Geneva-based ex-participants in the
evaluation process through possibly reviving the Alumni Association.  The Division is also
experimenting with online fora for ex-participants, thus making use of Internet, e-mail and other
means to keep the contact live on a continuous basis.  Practical use is being made of the recently-
established "WTO Reference Centers" in many developing countries for this purpose.  The first suchtrials have yielded encouraging results and one should not be surprised to witness various activities
taking place in that direction.  In a more distant future, the Training Division hopes to associate itself
with other Divisions' concrete projects in the area of distance learning, for which the World Bank has
kindly offered its technical infrastructure and expertise.
The Training Division has also recently started developing a Press and Media network of
contacts within the participating countries with a view to sensitising domestic audiences to the work
of the WTO, as it relates to the Trade Policy Courses (training activities thereof).
Participation in the regular Trade Policy Courses
Developing countries
The WTO finances and organizes three regular TPCs per year for trade officials from
developing and least-develope d countries which are Members or Observers of the WTO1.  The
participation is also extended to non-Member/Obs erver Least-Developed Countries in accordance with
the Decision taken by WTO Members at the High Level Meeting on the Integrated Framework forLDCs.  The Courses, held in English and alternately in French and Spanish, take place in Geneva and
last for twelve weeks each.  From 1955 when the first such courses were held, to April 2000, 1702
officials, including 83 in the capacity of 'free' auditors, participated in these courses. Over this period,
the courses were shortened from six months each at the beginning to four from the late '60s, and to
                                                     
1 As of January 2000 and as a result of the fact that  6-week long Special Courses on Accession to WTO
for Eastern and Central European and Central Asian Countries are no longer being held.  They have been
replaced by three shorter duration courses financed by the Swiss Authorities and conducted jointly by the latterand the Technical Cooperation Division.  The Training Division has, therefore, resumed inviting these sameeconomies in transition to the regular TPCs.WT/COMTD/W/68
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three as of 1998, when a third regular course was added to the annual programme, thus allowing  24
more fellowships being offered per year.
In 1999, three courses were held, two in English (10th  and 11th TPCs), from 13 January to 1
April2, and  20 September to 10 December3, respectively, and one in French (12th TPC) from 3 May to
23 July4.  A course in Spanish is due to start in mid-April 2000 and will last until mid-July.
Economies in Transition
As mentioned in Footnote 1, the WTO Secretar iat also organized in 1999 a shorter six-week
course, the 9th of the series, for officials from economies in transition for Eastern and Central European
and Central Asian Countries which are in the process of accession to the WTO.  Since 1991, 329
officials from the economies in transition have been trained in trade, WTO and particularly accession
issues through special courses financed by Switzerland (231) and the United States (98) and organized
by or with the help of the Training Division of the WTO Secretariat.    The 9th Course  was financed by
the Swiss authorities and was held from 6 to 30 April,  comprising 21participants from 12 countries. 5
Resource Allocation
WTO Budget: for each regular TPC, 24 participants are financed by WTO fellowship awards
which cover travel expenses to and from Geneva, hotel accommodation, sickness and accident
insurance; and a per diem to meet daily living expenses in Geneva and on study tours (there are notuition fees for participants).  Each participant costs approximately SFr 20,000, meaning that 24
fellowship awards per course amounts to approximately SFr 500,000. The WTO training budget
covers the costs of three courses per year. In 1999, the budget amounted to close to SFr 1.5 million.
Trust funds:  the special trade policy courses for the economies in transition were financed by
the Swiss and United States Governments.  The financing was  the same as for the regular courses in
that the budget  was  dedicated mainly to the travel and subsistence costs of the officials invited. It also
included provision for a 13% overhead cost.  The Secretariat  and the Swiss authorities have since
agreed on an alternative for providing technical assistance to this group of countries, which consists of
three one-week special courses to be spread out  through 2000 and organized in cooperation with the
Technical Cooperation Division (see also footnote 1).
The presentations and exercises of the courses are carried out to a large extent by WTO
secretariat officials dealing directly with the respective subjects, and also by some outside experts and
consultants, although very few of these can be paid.  Emphasis is laid on developing synergies withorganizations such as the World Bank, which is in charge, at no expenses, of part of the introduction
to the TPCs in the context of its cooperation with the WTO.  The expertise of other international
organizations (UNCTAD, ITC, WIPO, WCO, ITU, ICC and ISO ) is also used as a complement to the
courses at no extra costs to the WTO.
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2 Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chinese Taip ei, El Salvador, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Korea,
Mauritius, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Romania, Bhutan,
St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Thailand, Turkey and Uganda.
3 Bangladesh, Botswana, Cambodia, Chile, Cuba, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guyana, Hong Kong,
China, India, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Lesotho, Malawi, Paraguay, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Suriname,
Swaziland, Uganda, Venezuela, World Bank, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
4 Algeria, Argentine, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire,
Djibouti, Haiti, Laos, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauri ce, Mauritania, Niger, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Chad, Togo, Tunisia and Turkey.
5 Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Georgia, Kazakstan, Moldova,  Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.