The purpose of this course is for participants to deepen their understanding of the main provisions of the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), to become more  familiar with trade in services analytical tools and to  consolidate their understanding of emerging services policy and negotiating issues, such as those relating to domestic regulation of services or e-commerce.

One of the course participants, Marco Antonio Esquivel Salas, Trade Negotiator at the Services and Investment Department of Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Trade, said: "This course is providing me with essential knowledge and data to apply to Costa Rica's current trade negotiations. It has been very important for me to participate in this course as the negotiations on e-commerce and domestic regulation taking place at the WTO are reaching an advanced stage."  

Another course participant, Mihriban Esin Arslan, Trade Expert at the Department of Trade in Services, Investment and E-commerce of Turkey's Ministry of Trade, said: "This course is very important because it updates us on the latest plurilateral initiatives taking place at the WTO, including on domestic regulation and on e-commerce, and allows us to learn about the services chapters contained in bilateral agreements. The experience-sharing among participants has also been very helpful."

This course, organized jointly by the WTO Trade in Services and Investment Division and the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation, is offered as part of the WTO's technical assistance and capacity-building activities. It represents the highest level of "specialist" training – "level 3" – within the WTO's progressive learning framework.

List of the participants