The course has been designed with the needs of the Caribbean region in mind and is being conducted by both lecturers from the WTO and specialists from the region.

The course was officially inaugurated by Mr. Paul Rolian, Director of the WTO Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation, and Professor the Hon. Kenneth O. Hall, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Mona Campus.

In his opening address, Professor Hall warmly welcomed the participants and expressed the pride of UWI for partnering with the WTO for the second time. He mentioned that the course was a "collaborative effort between the WTO and the UWI that will redound to the collective benefit of the entire Caribbean region". He told the participants that they will be "challenged during the course to think outside the box with respect to national and territorial issues; with respect to procedures and processes; ... and that they will emerge at the end of the course with the firm knowledge that [they] are a member of a special group of people who will articulate and present together, [...], the collective interests of this region."

Mr. Wayne McCook, Senior Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, also welcomed the participants on behalf of the Ministry. He called on participants to "engage in developing ideas on how, given the constraints of a small domestic market, we can gear ourselves towards increasing and diversifying exports and strengthening domestic competitiveness". He urged participants to enjoy Jamaica and "forge new friendships and contacts".

Mr. Rolian welcomed the participants on behalf of WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi. He expressed his gratitude to the University of the West Indies for their supportive partnership and for the excellent collaboration provided in the organization of the first course in 2004. He said that similar courses are held in different regions of the world to provide regional resource bases on information about the WTO.

Mr. Rolian recalled that the main objective of the courses is to widen participants' understanding of trade policy maters, the multilateral trading system, international trade law and the functioning of the WTO. By increasing the number of government officials in the region with a solid foundation of knowledge on the WTO these courses help promote the more active participation of developing countries in the WTO.

The Regional Trade Policy Courses are part of the WTO's technical assistance and capacity building programme, and are modelled on three-month trade policy courses that have been organized by the GATT/WTO in Geneva for over 40 years. They were introduced in 2002 and have since been held in Africa and in Hong Kong, China, for the Asia-Pacific region. A course for Latin America will be held later this year in Santiago, Chile.
  

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