Date: Oct 27 - Dec 19, 2008

Course Summary: Reflecting its rising role in international trade, trade in services has become an important component of domestic reform agendas as well as of the WTO Doha negotiations and bilateral and regional trade agreements.  To strengthen the ability of trade officials, advisors, analysts, and representatives of business and consumer associations to understand the economic implications of services liberalization and trade and to contribute to the formulation of their country’s trade in services reform and negotiating agenda, the World Bank Institute is offering the 4th “International Trade in Services E-learning Course”.

Background: International trade and investment in services are an increasingly important part of global commerce. Technological developments in the area of information and telecommunication technologies have expanded the scope of services that can be traded cross-border. Many countries have introduced private sector-led and competitive market structures in key infrastructure services, such as energy, telecommunications and transport, and in social services. This trend has opened up new opportunities for cross-border investment in services. Services provided internationally through the temporary movement of individual service providers offer significant export potential for many developing countries and are already a well-established phenomenon in different regions and sectors.

Reflecting their rising role in international trade, services have become an important component of the multilateral trade architecture. Services feature prominently as well in the process of the WTO accession that a large number of countries are engaged in. And services lie at the heart of the large and growing network of regional trade agreements concluded of late or still under negotiation.

Despite the flurry of negotiating and rule-making activity described above, experience with services policy reforms is still young. Significant challenges exist in building the regulatory institutions that are needed to remedy market failures, appropriately sequence service sector reforms, and establish mechanism that promote the availability of essential services among poor people.

International trade negotiations in services raise additional challenges. Barriers to services trade do not take the form of tariffs and border measures, but consist of a variety of regulatory measures affecting foreign Service providers. This tends to make trade rules complex and international negotiations information and resource-intensive.

Course Structure: Against this background, the World Bank Institute offers its 4th E-learning course on International Trade in Services.  The course will take place during 8 weeks.  The course will cover 14 modules drawn from Bank studies, WBI-commissioned overview papers, non-Bank seminal works, and case studies.   Most modules will consist of one or more Power Point presentations, mandatory and recommended readings, and accompanying video segments that will provide an overview of each sub-topic and case studies. The main reference textbook will be ‘A Handbook of International Trade in Services’ published in January 2008 by Oxford University Press.  All external participants will receive a copy of this seminal reference volume (Bank staff can purchase it at a deep discount at the Infoshop), while both internal and external participants will receive a DVD with additional course material.

Participants will be expected to read the course materials at the beginning of each week. On Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays there will be an online discussion (not in real time) among participants guided by that week’s moderators, who would be for the most part, the authors of the key readings assigned for that particular module. Participants are also required to prepare during the course and submit by the end of Week 7 a brief action plan (2 single-sided pages) of priority reforms in their country or essay about your changed views and lessons learned from the course.

To successfully complete the course and receive a certificate of course completion from WBI, each participant is required to (i) study the mandatory teaching materials, (ii) participate actively in the online discussion each week, (iii) pass an online test for each module, (iv) submit an end-of-course concise action plan or essay; and (v) complete the online course evaluation. Total time commitment for participants is expected to range from 8 to 16 hours per week.

Target Audience:

• Government officials (from trade, foreign, finance/economics ministries) directly involved in the conduct of services trade negotiations, whether at the WTO or bilateral and regional levels.
• Government officials in sectoral ministries and regulatory agencies - in transport, finance, telecommunications, labor market, immigration, competition, national statistical offices - typically involved in managing the interface between trade and domestic regulatory reform.
• Officials in development or planning ministries, whose tasks increasingly include keeping track of ongoing trade and investment negotiations and fitting such efforts into the broader and longer-term process of development.
• Researchers in academia, think tanks and regional research networks concerned with trade and regulatory polices.
• Representatives from professional associations (e.g. in banking, insurance, shipping, telecom users, migration policy), and from consumer groups typically interested in the impact of services negotiations on competition as well as on the price and availability of public services such as health, education, water, and overall access to universal services.
• International organization staff (including World Bank staff) involved in analytical, advisory and technical assistance work related to trade.
   

Target number of participants is 60.  Maximum number of participants admitted will be 80.

Resource Persons

• Gianni Zanini, Lead Economist – Poverty Reduction & Economic Management Division, World Bank Institute (Course Director)
• Aaditya Mattoo, Lead Economist – Development Research Group, World Bank
• Robert Stern, Professor of Economics and Public Policy (Emeritus), Gerald. R Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
• Brian Copeland, Professor, Department of Economics, University of British Colombia (To Be Confirmed)
• Andreas Maurer, Chief of Section, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO
• Rudolf Adlung, Senior Economist, Trade in Services, WTO
• Pierre Suave, Visiting Fellow, International Trade Policy Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Sherry Stephenson, Director, Department of Trade, Tourism, and Competitiveness, Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI), Organization of American States (OAS)
• Carlos. A Primo Braga, Senior Adviser, International Trade Department, World Bank Geneva Office (To Be Confirmed)
• Christopher Findlay, Head, School of Economics, University of Adelaide (To Be Confirmed)
• Peter Cowhey, Dean and Qualcomm Professor, Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego (To Be Confirmed)
• Boutheina Guermazi, Senior Regulatory Specialist, Global Information and Communication Technology Department, World Bank
• Lee Tuthill, Trade in Services Division, WTO
• Wendy Dobson, Professor and Director, Institute for International Business, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
• Juan Marchetti, Counselor, Trade in Services, Division, World Trade Organization  (To Be Confirmed)
• Nick Drager, Senior Adviser, Department of Ethics, Trade, Human Rights and Law, World Health Organization (To Be Confirmed)
• Geza Feketekuty, Consultant and the President of the Institute for Trade and Commercial Diplomacy

Tuition Fee: Participants from developing countries will be assessed a $400 tuition fee, to be reduced for government officials and academics from least developed countries (LDCs) and International Development Association (IDA) countries to $200. The cost for participants from developed countries and donor agencies will be $800. 

Technical Requirements: All participants must have access to Internet and to a CD-ROM player, and they must provide a reliable postal address where the CD-ROM containing all presentations and materials will be delivered. The course will be conducted in English over the internet, so the ability to participate in the online discussion is a key pre-requisite and mandatory requirement for participants.

How To Apply:

Application for Non Bank Staff:  Closing date for accepting nominations is October 16th, 2008. Click the link below:
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/wbi_learning/activity.cfm?sch_id=TRA08-01-058

1) Click the Apply button under the proper part/session and activity title

2) Complete the application form

3) Click Submit

4) A confirmation will be sent to those selected.

Admission will be confirmed by October 17th, 2008.

Application for World Bank Staff:  Closing date for accepting nominations is October 16th, 2008
Apply using the “myLearning” catalogue:

http://lms.worldbank.org/topclass/tce730iis.dll?Plugin-catreg-enroll-1352093

For questions related to applications, please contact Anita Chen at email: achen1@worldbank.org, fax: 1-202- 676-9810