Trade officials from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries started gathering in Jakarta on Monday for a three-week course on global trade policy and the multilateral trading system.

"The course is meant to equip the participants with sufficient knowledge about the issues so that they would be better prepared to face the next series of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations," Agus Haryanto, secretary-general of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, was quoted Tuesday by The Jakarta Post as saying.

"A lack of knowledge about global trade policy is responsible for much of the inability of developing countries to make their case forcefully," said Agus.

The three-week course is being organized by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in collaboration with the WTO, the government of Indonesia and the Non-Aligned Movement Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation (NAM CSSTC).

Aside from Indonesia, which is a member of the OIC, the 32 trade officials participating in the course are from 21 other OIC member countries -- Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Gambia, Guyana, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda and Uzbekistan.

The OIC has 57 member countries.

The course will cover all topics concerning the WTO, including basic principles of the multilateral trading system, market access,trade facilitation, agriculture, anti-distortion measures, disputesettlement, accession to the WTO, trade related intellectual property rights (TRIPs) agreements, government procurement and competition policy.

All those delivering the course are from the Geneva-based WTO secretariat.

Source: Xinhua