UNCTAD will hold an international coordination meeting on its Port Training Programme in Dublin from 26 to 28 June 2007 to discuss how to respond to numerous requests for technical assistance from English-speaking port communities in Asia and Africa. A network of such port operations participating in the training programme is expected to be launched at the gathering, and information and experience will be exchanged in efforts to enhance national expertise in port management.
The meeting is being held by UNCTAD´s TRAINFORTRADE programme with the support of the Dublin Port Company and in cooperation with Irish Aid.
Expected attendees will be chairmen, general managers, directors of human resources, directors of training, and representatives of transport ministries from the Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. Participants from those countries and representatives of port partners from France, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom will discuss how UNCTAD´s TRAINFORTRADE port training programme can be expanded to meet their needs.
Requests for assistance from English-language countries follow the success of UNCTAD projects for African French-speaking and Portuguese-speaking port communities, and a regional project for Cambodia and Laos, all developed since 1996 under UNCTAD´s training and capacity building programme TRAINFORTRADE. Over 500 port operators, 17 % of them women, have been trained in Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia. Some 22 "training of trainers" sessions have been organized in these countries, and the participants are now serving as trainers in their port communities.
