Mr. Ravier underlined that the 30 trade officials will have the unique occasion to follow, from the inside, the work of the WTO and will thus have the opportunity to witness how the Organization starts implementing the decision adopted last November at the fourth session of the Ministerial Conference held in Doha, Qatar.

The Deputy Director-General also stressed the efforts made by the WTO to contribute to trade-related capacity building in developing countries and economies in transition. He recalled the creation of the WTO Training Institute last June and welcomed the decision of the WTO Members to increase the budget of the Institute to achieve progressively a doubling of its training capacity. Mr. Ravier invited the course participants to actively take part in the forthcoming training and to develop and strengthen a solid network of contacts which will be useful in handling WTO matters. He expressed his conviction that well-informed government officials constitute a determining contribution to a more vigorous and truly multilateral trading system.

Throughout the three-month training, which will end on 5 April, the 30 participating officials will become acquainted, through lectures, round-tables and simulation exercises, with virtually all the issues dealt with and the activities carried out in the framework of the WTO as well as with trade-related aspects of the work conducted by other international organisations located in Geneva.

The WTO Training Institute's mandate goes beyond organizing the traditional trade policy courses, which were instituted already under the GATT, in 1955. The Institute's task now includes training for trainers, a diversified range of short-term trade policy courses, distance-learning services, as well as increased co-operation with universities and other institutions of learning handling WTO and trade-related issues. The Institute is advised by a Board which held its constitutive meeting in November 2001.

  
  
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