A regional training course on key issues on the international economic agenda is being offered to senior government officials from Western Asia. The course, organized jointly by UNCTAD and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), will be held at UN House in Beirut, Lebanon, from 16 to 27 June.
The 17 participants - drawn from ministries of trade, industry, commerce and foreign affairs -- will be trained in multidisciplinary approaches to trade and development issues. The linkages between trade, investment and development; their implications for integrated development strategies; and comparisons between national experiences in trade and development policies for countries in the region will be explored.
The course syllabus draws on UNCTAD´s expertise in trade and development policies, financial flows and macroeconomic management, investment and technology, trade facilitation measures, and electronic commerce and development. It will familiarize participants with the analytical and research work of both UNCTAD and ESCWA.
The course is part of a series mandated by the Bangkok Plan of Action adopted at UNCTAD X in February 2000. At that meeting, UNCTAD was requested to strengthen the understanding of decision makers from developing countries of key development issues on the international economic agenda that fall within UNCTAD´s field of competence. The first regional course was organized with the Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in November 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand. The second course, co-organized with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), took place in Santiago, Chile, this past March-April (see TAD/INF/NC50 of 1 April). A fourth course is planned for this September in conjunction with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
