Government officials and academics from 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific region will be trained by UNCTAD in the use of multidisciplinary approaches to trade and development issues in Hanoi, Viet Nam. The regional training course on "Key Issues on the International Economic Agenda", to be held from 15 November to 1 December, is being organized jointly by UNCTAD, the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade and the Office of the National Committee on International Economic Cooperation, which is hosting the event with government support.
The linkages between trade, investment and development; their implications for integrated development strategies; and national experiences with trade and development policies for countries in the region will be explored. The course syllabus has been designed to draw on UNCTAD´s expertise in trade and development policies, financial flows and macroeconomic management, investment and technology, trade facilitation measures and e-commerce and development. The 22 participants will learn about the analytical and research work of UNCTAD, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Hanoi-based Institute of World Economics and Politics.
The course is part of a series mandated by the Bangkok Plan of Action adopted at UNCTAD X in February 2000 and reaffirmed in the São Paulo Consensus adopted at UNCTAD XI this past June. At UNCTAD X, UNCTAD was requested to strengthen the understanding of decision makers from developing countries of key development issues on the international economic agenda within UNCTAD´s fields of competence. Two general courses were offered in 2001-2002, along with five regional courses in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Asia, Africa and transition economies. This month´s Hanoi course is the second for the Asia-Pacific region and will be followed next February and March by one in Havana for the Latin American and Caribbean region. That course will be organized by UNCTAD in tandem with the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade for participants selected from the region´s ministries of commerce, industry and trade and other institutions.
