IMF-CEF23-1

The Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO), in close collaboration with the Secretariats of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and in partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Centre for Economics and Finance (IMF-CEF) is organizing a Regional Workshop for Arab and Middle Eastern Members and Observers on Trade and Public Health. It is scheduled to take place in Kuwait City, Kuwait from 10 to 14 December 2023. The Workshop with take place in English with simultaneous interpretation into Arabic.

The Workshop's content is multidisciplinary and based on the 2nd Edition of the WHO-WIPO-WTO Trilateral Study "Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation: Intersections between Public Health, Intellectual Property and Trade".

The overall objectives of the Workshop are to improve the capacity of government officials to analyse policy choices, address multidisciplinary issues, and foster smooth domestic coordination through a comprehensive understanding of overlapping policy issues with bearing on public health and their relationship with WTO Agreements. There will be a specific focus on the challenges faced and the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Workshop will combine lectures by experts, interactive debates, and practical case studies, as well as presentations on comparative national experiences by selected participants.