This course allowed 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 domestic regulation of services, e-commerce and other emerging services policy and negotiating issues.

One of the course participants, Jasemin Weekes, Permanent Secretary at the International Trade Department of the Ministry of International Trade, Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs of Saint Kitts and Nevis, said: "I am grateful for the opportunity to learn how to use the GATS provisions to maximize the benefits stemming from services trade and to generate economic development and growth. I also learned from the course how, as a small island with limited resources, we can reduce bureaucratic redtape and ease the entry of investment flows into Saint Kitts and Nevis."

Another course participant, Charity Priscilla Musonzo, Deputy Director of Trade at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Malawi, said: "Deepening my understanding of the GATS was important as my government is currently engaged in several regional trade negotiations under the COMESA, the SADC and the CFTA. Of particular interest to me was financial services and how to better explain to our capital-based colleagues the commitments we have undertaken at the WTO in this area."

Andrés Del Olmo García, Legal Advisor in the General Directorate of International Economic Affairs of Chile's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who also took part in the course, said: "This course was valuable because it allowed me to increase my technical expertise and at the same time to learn about current challenges and discussions taking place at the WTO, such as how to measure trade restrictiveness and to address the e-regulations related to cross border trade."

The 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 within the WTO's progressive learning framework.