The overarching objective of the course is to contribute to the development of a critical mass of highly skilled middle and senior policy officials and decision makers who will be suitably or better equipped to design and manage trade policy for the development of their countries, sub-regions and the continent. More specifically, the course will provide training on trade negotiations, doing so on the basis primarily of the expressed interest of African governments to ensure that their international trade relations are fundamentally developmental.The course will respond to the needs articulated by African governments for a corpus of skilled mid-level and senior personnel who are adequately equipped to design, implement and evaluate trade policies that dovetail with national and regional development needs and aspirations.