This Course is being offered by the WTO within a joint partnership agreement with the "Institut Supérieur de Commerce et d`Administration des Entreprises (ISCAE)".

Twenty-seven officials from as many countries in Africa are attending the Course. The programme includes all the essential elements that normally compose similar courses when held at the headquarters. The elements that could not be kept have been substituted by important national or regional contributions. Such participation of senior Moroccan officials in numerous trade policy fields will, therefore, add a dimension that is not normally in the residential courses in Geneva due to the world-wide coverage of participating countries/customs territories.

The Casablanca project, as well as its twin counterpart due to be launched at the University of Nairobi, Kenya , on 15 July, has been made possible thanks to the generous voluntary financial contributions from several WTO Members and the World Bank.

The project, which is being implemented jointly by the ISCAE and the WTO, will be duly monitored throughout its duration and fully evaluated upon completion with a view to deciding on whether to repeat the experience in the region and eventually transposed in its present or a revised configuration to other academic institutions in other regions.

The opening ceremony, which was attended by the African fellows, was also given a wide press coverage including Moroccan Television. The welcoming address was delivered by the Secretary-General of the Commerce Ministry of Morocco, Mr. Hilia Bouselham, who welcomed the WTO`s initiative which inaugurated a new era of cooperation and held promising returns in capacity building. Messrs Rachid M`Rabet, Director of the ISCAE, and Mr. Claude Mercier, Director of the WTO Training Institute, also spoke, each pointing out the contribution of their respective institute to this ambitious project.

A list of the course participants is attached.