The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are jointly proposing this virtual course entitled "Agriculture in International Trade Agreements (AITA)”, which combines online content that can be self-managed by each student, complemented by live webinars on broad conceptual frameworks and approaches to understanding and addressing international agreements on agriculture and international agrifood trade in the Caribbean.

This course informs the treatment of agriculture in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and regional trade agreements (RTAs) and aims to support policy makers to develop and implement appropriate agricultural development and food security strategies.

   

Course Information Sheet:

Course Name:

Agriculture in International Trade Agreements (AITA) – 2nd special edition for CARICOM

Course type:

Online course

Total duration of the course:

20 chronological hours to be taken in 4 weeks (4 to 5 hours per week).

Course modality and methodology:

The strategy used in this virtual course is to share knowledge and exchange experiences. It is delivered fully online, with approximately 80% of asynchronous virtual activities and 20% in synchronous format. The estimated time to learn is about 4 to 5 hours per week. It is highly recommended to log in the course at least three times a week and spend at least 60 minutes per day.

The methodology selected for this virtual course contains three types of activities:

Self-paced modules, with asynchronous modality:
It includes two online learning modules. These modules are developed through self-learning. It is the participant's responsibility to build his/her own knowledge. The course is divided into units that allow participants to explore the content sequentially, i.e., once a topic has been completely reviewed, it is possible to access the next one. The content will be delivered fully online, combining self-paced learning.

Webinars:
Three webinar sessions and a forum for interaction among participants. The objective of these sessions is to strengthen the exchange of experiences. The webinars include keynote presentations from experts from FAO, CARICOM Secretariat and other partner institutions.

Discussion board:
A discussion board will be open to share experiences and reflections among participants during the course's 4 weeks.

Start and end dates:

The course starts on October 23rd, 2024, and finishes on November 20th, 2024.

Audience:

• Government officials and public servants who are involved in the implementation of trade-related public programs, initiatives, negotiations.
• Representatives of the private sector and academia.
• Representatives of international organizations and NGOs.

A selection process will be carried out for participants, who will be contacted by FAO Campus.

General objective:

To provide tools that will enable participants to acquire and/or deepen their knowledge of international trade, and the main trade policy instruments related to agricultural trade for the Caribbean.

Specific objectives:

• To strengthen capacities for analyzing the international economic situation and policies related to international trade.
• To understand the different trade policy instruments, the functioning of the multilateral trade system and the development of mega trade agreements and the implications for the agricultural sector.
• To become familiar with new international trade issues, especially those related to agriculture that impact the Caribbean.

Contents:

Activity	Contents	Duration (Hourly load)	Date and hour
Unit 1: World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)"	Lesson 1.1: Agriculture in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the WTO AoA provisions on Market Access. Lesson 1.2: The WTO AoA provisions on Domestic Support and Export Competition. Lesson 1.3: The WTO AoA implementation and the Doha Round negotiations.	Lessons from October 23 to October 29, 2024
Webinar 1	Course Presentation and opening remarks. Kkeynote presentations on the relevance of the WTO for agri-food trade	60 minutes	Tuesday, October 29 9:00 am Belize 10:00 Jamaica 11:00 Guyana 12:00 Chile
Unit 2: Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) in agriculture and related WTO agreements	Lesson 2.1: Introduction to NTMs in agriculture, the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures. Lesson 2.2: The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement and other related rules.	Lessons from October 30 to November 5, 2024
Webinar 2	How non-tariff barriers affect trade	60 minutes	Tuesday, November 12 9:00 am Belize 10:00 Jamaica 11:00 Guyana 12:00 Chile
Unit 3 - Agriculture in Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs)	Lesson 3.1: Trends in Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). Lesson 3.2: RTA provisions on tariffs, TRQs, SPS and TBT. Lesson 3.3: RTA provisions on Export Restrictions, Export Duties and Rules of Origin.	Lessons from November 6 to November 20, 2024
Webinar 3	Opportunities and Challenges: For the Caribbean integration process	60 minutes	Tuesday, November 19 9:00 am Belize 10:00 Jamaica 11:00 Guyana 12:00 Chile

Evaluation and passing requirements:

To approve this virtual course a final assessment must be completed, and students must participate in the webinars and discussion forums. The final evaluation of the course requires a 60% achievement.

The evaluation will be measured according to the following percentage scale:

• Approve: 60 to 100 points
• Failed: 0 to 59 points

Hardware requirements:

The equipment on which the participant takes the course must have the following minimum technical specifications for its correct completion:

• Computer or electronic device with internet connection.
• The quality and speed of navigation and downloading of documents will depend exclusively on the bandwidth of the connection.
• RAM memory greater than 1GB.
• Free space in hard disk, superior to: 500 MB.
• Processor of 600 MHz or higher.

Software Requirements:

• The latest version of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari or Opera web browser, with JavaScript enabled.
• Screen resolution of at least 1024x768 pixels (width by height).
• PDF document reader.

Additional Requirements:

• Office automation skills (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), fluent email and web browsing.
• Availability of at least 5 to 6 hours for reading, activities and evaluations. The course schedule is at the participant's choice. You may enter the classroom at any time you wish. You should only consider entering the classroom at least three times a week for readings and activities.
• The course schedule is at the participant's choice. You may enter the classroom at any time you wish. You should only consider logging in at least three times per week for readings and completion of activities.

Language:

The course will be taught entirely in English.

Course code:

AITAEN202410

Certification:

A single certification is obtained for the approval of the course based on the criteria already described.

You will be able to automatically download the certificate issued by FAO-RLC from the course platform.

Please remember to save your certificate. It cannot be downloaded again once the course is finished.

Better to which it belongs:

BN5: Transparent market and trade

Supervising Officer:

Pablo Rabczuk - FAO
Shaun Baugh and Milagro Matus - CARICOM Secretariat

Contact:

For additional inquiries, please contact: [email protected]