EU supports training of Pak officials in trade in agriculture

Two days training course to build the capacity of government officers of federal ministries, implementing agencies, provincial departments and research organisations regarding trade in agriculture was arranged on Tuesday. The training course on ‘Trade in Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities for Pakistan’ started at Pakistan Institute of Trade and Development (PITAD) under the European Union (EU) funded Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA II) programme. The course is jointly organised by PITAD and International Trade Centre (ITC) with technical support from the Switzerland-based World Trade Institute (WTI). The purpose of the training course is to build the capacity of government officers and researchers from federal government ministries, implementing agencies, provincial departments and research organisations regarding the importance of trade in agriculture.
The training focuses on the domestic conditions affecting agriculture productivity, impact of liberalisation on international trade in agriculture, food security, agriculture trade statistics, organic food, and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), among other topics. Particular attention will be given to investment related issues and multilateral negotiations in agriculture. The training provides an opportunity for the participants to identify areas where they can contribute to the domestic regulatory reforms as well as bilateral and multilateral negotiations in the agriculture sector. Thirty five officers and researchers from various ministries, research organisations and provincial departments are participating in the training course.
The training is delivered by a master trainer from the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Nauman Aslam, and is supported by his mentor from WTI Dr Christian Haeberli through video conference. Necessary equipment has been provided to PITAD under TRTA II programme to web-cast the training to provide a low-cost and easily accessible capacity building opportunity to the interested stakeholders. The training has been organised under the ITC implemented Trade Policy Capacity Building component of the TRTA II programme. A main aspect of this component is to build of capacity of government officials working in various ministries and departments on trade policy and negotiations. For this purpose a partnership agreement was facilitated between PITAD and WTI for the institutional capacity building of local training and research institutes and the training of a number of master trainers. The master trainers called upon to further disseminate their knowledge gained to policy makers working in various ministries through such short trainings as well as PITAD’s regular curriculum. Through the approach, the programme aims to ensure both sustainability (through building local capacity) and excellence in trade policy training to government officials. In the recent months, two trainings on regional integration and trade policy formulation and analysis were conducted under the programme.
TRTA II programme is implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in association with International Trade Centre (ITC) and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).