With offshore financial centres providing these countries with significant revenues and employment, many of their economies could face collapse. The course, which took place on 4-30 January 2001 in India, offered training in the theory and practice of tea production, the technology used after harvesting the crop and the methods of management of tea plantations. A number of countries have been experiencing a shortage of managerial skills in the area of tea plantation management and therefore the course was designed to give such managers better techniques to help them adapt to an increasingly liberalised economic environment, with its focus on efficiency in production. Some 26 people participated in the course. Fourteen came from Sri Lanka while the remaining 12 came from Bangladesh.
Tea is of key importance to the economies of both countries.
India is the world's largest producer of tea and participants in the course benefited from the knowledge of Indian experts who conducted training. A major component of the course focused on the Indian experience in the management of tea plantations. The course had three modules. Maritime Expert For Mauritius Plans by the small island state of Mauritius to redefine its territorial waters to comply with its international obligations have been buoyed up by the Commonwealth Secretariat. Graham Holden started work on 29 January 2001 and his assignment is for one year.