Geneva, 22 September 2008 - Fifteen senior port managers from Ghana, Indonesia, the Maldives, Malaysia, and Tanzania will gather at the port of Dublin from 22 September - 10 October to be prepped on carrying out an UNCTAD course on modern port management. This workshop, organized by UNCTAD in cooperation with Dublin Port Company and funded by Irish Aid, is the first of a series that will qualify port officials from English-speaking developing countries to offer the UNCTAD course to middle managers in their own countries.
Ports play a key role in providing developing countries with access to international markets. They also are vital for promoting local and regional trade. The increasingly sophisticated nature of global port operations makes training essential. The UNCTAD programme, which has been in operation for the past 10 years, helps port communities in developing countries to improve the skills of their middle managers.
Based on a June 2007 agreement adopted in Dublin by port representatives of English-speaking African and Asian countries, missions have been organized by UNCTAD and the Dublin Port Company to Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania to assess the needs for development, training, and capacity building. The Dublin workshop is the first activity organized by UNCTAD to respond to those needs. The senior managers to be trained will be able to replicate the training in their own countries with the assistance of UNCTAD and the Dublin Port Company.
The Port Training Programme is part of UNCTAD´s TrainForTrade, which helps developing nations acquire the skills needed to participate effectively in the global economy. It aims to give such countries access to trade-related knowledge, the opportunities to apply and adapt it to local conditions, as well as generate local knowledge according to the countries´ needs. TrainForTrade projects assess training needs in individual countries and establish programmes to help meet those needs.
