The Expert Group Meeting on Regional Networking of Trade-related Training Facilities was organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in cooperation with the Eximius Centre of the Export Import Bank of India in Bangalore, India 21 - 25 February 1998.
The Meeting was attended by experts from China, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. A resource person was provided by the Association of Training Institutions of Foreign Trade in Asia and the Pacific (ATIFTAP).
The Meeting was opened by the Director, International Trade and Economic Cooperation Division of ESCAP. He outlined ESCAP's priority on human resource development, which was formally embodied in Resolution 51/6 on Implementation of the Delhi Declaration of Strengthening Regional Economic Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific towards the twenty-first Century of the fifty-first session of ESCAP in 1995, and preceded by other similar resolutions, numbered 48/1, 49/1, 50/1 and 50/9 on regional economic cooperation. He acknowledged the cooperation extended by the Export Import Bank of India (Eximbank) based in Bombay, who offered their training facilities located at Bangalore called Eximius Centre, and a result of an earlier cooperation on the preparation of export credit guarantee schemes.
ESCAP has selected the small but highly selected group of 6 institutions from 6 countries where training facilities in international trade are known. The selection was made to facilitate the issue of assisting training institutions in countries where such centres are still missing or weak, and to promote the concept of Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) as the modality to promote the network. The Director emphasized that regional economic cooperation must be viewed as a process, and not as a result of a series of actions. There are various levels of cooperation, which can involve governments, non-governmental organizations, semi-government agencies, the private sector, trade operators and practitioners, and at institutional level. Globalization has given rise to the search for new economic space: thus ASEAN, SAARC and other subregional organizations have new challenges to face. Other types of cooperation are being developed such as the Bangladesh India Myanmar Sri Lanka Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC) to enable geographical locations to become trade-advantageous. Most of the least developed countries and economies in transition are faced with issues which have resulted in their membership in groupings such as the WTO, or APEC, where a myriad of meetings require their presence: the question is how do they cope with the provisions and requirements to make them effective members. Capacity building therefore becomes a compelling force among existing institutions.
The Director of Eximius Centre welcomed the experts, and lauded the past cooperation with ESCAP especially in the preparation of the export credit guarantee study, which has proven to be a practical-oriented publication. The partnership with ESCAP on this Meeting would be useful for the exchange of information and to bring about workable modalities of the proposed network. The Eximius Centre was engaged, together with other partners, in enhancing the trading capacities of the business sector as well as performing research on timely topics of relevance to the expansion of India's trade in goods and in services. Its roster of experts, experience in various fields of training in foreign trade, and its facilities will become available to the network members.
It was agreed that the first step toward the consolidation of a network would be for the members to establish databases to facilitate the exchange of information, as updated as possible, and with a minimum of delay. A webpage platform was decided to be established, consisting of the following databases:
The format would include the following elements, which is preceded by a brief profile of the institution offering the programmes.
The profile will consist of a 500-word description, and including the contact person's name, position and address (PO Box, locational address, city, country, telephone code, telephone number, fax, E-mail, URL):
DATABASE 1: CALENDAR OF COURSES
COUNTRY
PROGRAMME TITLE
SHORT DESCRIPTION 100 WORDS
DATE, DURATION, FUTURE DATES
TARGET AUDIENCE AND IF QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION
FEES
RESOURCE PERSONS
LOCATION OF TRAINING PROGRAMME
The database will consist of two parts namely the current and future programmes.
DATABASE 2: RESOURCE PERSONS
A brief description of each resource person giving details of experience relevant to the training programmes, qualifications, contact address, and availability for future assignments. This is followed by a brief assessment by the institution's evaluation of the work completed by the resource person. No more than 500 words should be employed per resource person profile and assessment.
DATABASE 3:TRAINING MATERIAL
These can include training manuals prepared by the institution for various courses, a reading list for participants, special notes or teaching material, in paper copies, diskettes, or CD-ROM formats. The programme listing will be a guide to the availability of such training material. Upon request, special lists will be provided to the network members covering the training material used for specific programmes, on a reciprocal basis. The institution may choose to have a listing of the shareable training material, or provide information which would lead to the preparation of special lists on an ad hoc basis. The purpose of this database is to provide an expanded resource for those who plan training courses and are in need of training material choices. The two parts to the database include those available from international, regional and specialized institutions; and the second part are the country-based institutions.
OTHER: The webpage could include other features such as publishing e-mail messages which would be useful for other members of the network, a "what's new" section to cover news about institutions, new faculty, announcement of special courses, and other related news, or queries.
NEW MEMBERS OF THE NETWORK
The meeting discussed the possibility of bringing in new members, after the first pilot training programme would be completed, through a second Expert Group Meeting. Its agenda could include a Memorandum of Agreement among the training institutions; evaluation of the first joint training programme; choice of subjects for future roving seminars; evaluation of the website; and the adoption of technology to enlarge the range of training courses and material.
Please re-visit this page, to follow developments of the network.