Trade short course improves participants’ knowledge and skills significantly

In April and May 2024, the Institute for International Trade (IIT) delivered the Australian Awards Africa short course, ‘Enhancing Continental Trade Facilitation in Africa’, in Nairobi, Kenya. This short course had participants with a trade policy background from eleven countries across Africa.

Over three weeks, participants developed a working knowledge of trade, trade policy development and trade facilitation in the African context. In addition to core content focused on international trade and development, they also learned about the theoretical underpinnings of international trade as articulated by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international bodies and relevant information on the status of the African regional integration initiatives which their country is a member of. Other themes covered, were current information on African continental economic developments and international trade, understanding digital trade and its role in trade facilitation in an African context, and empowering public private partnerships to facilitate trade.

An expert team from the University of Adelaide’s Institute for International Trade, lead by Dr Nathan Gray, Professor Peter Draper, and Ms Catherine Grant-Makokera delivered the program. The program also involved detailed discussion of the emerging issues in trade policy and trade facilitation with trade policy experts visits to key trade policy and trade related sites such as customs posts, single window operators, freight and logistics operations and participation in discussion panels with local African trade practitioners and experts.

By the end of the course the participants had dramatically improved their technical trade-related skills, trade facilitation issues, and have up-to-date knowledge of WTO regulations and compliance requirements, specific issues in the integration processes in their country’s region, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), developments in intra-African and international trade, and the importance of inclusive national development.