Twenty representatives of least developed African, Caribbean, Asian and Pacific countries are attending this course, which is organized in French at WTO headquarters. The three-week programme is being held at a key moment in the process of relaunching negotiations within the framework of the Doha Development Agenda.

The main aim of this three-week course is to give a sufficiently broad overview to enable participants to gain a better understanding of the multilateral trading system and the structure, rules, functioning and basic principles of the WTO by means of a series of practical and concrete presentations and exercises. Another equally important objective of the course is to give participants the opportunity to develop a network of contacts and reference points both amongst themselves and with WTO staff.

The third week's activities will be devoted in part to the development dimension, which will be addressed at a special session during which participants will be invited to share their experience in that area. A forum on technical cooperation will be organized by experts from UNCTAD, the ITC, WIPO, the World Bank and the WTO, who will give presentations on their respective technical cooperation programmes, with particular emphasis on the specific needs of LDCs. This forum will also serve to strengthen contacts between the participants and these organizations. A special spotlight will also be turned on the ongoing negotiations.

This course is funded from the WTO regular budget as part of the ongoing endeavour since the Doha Ministerial Conference to provide capacity-building for developing countries, in particular LDCs.
  

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