Trade Negotiations for Practitioners

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Quick Summary

Subject Matter:

Training programs for civil servants exposed to trade negotiations, either as negotiators or as part of the broader whole-of-government process.

Aimed at:

Government Officials and Public Servants

Duration:

3.5 hours plus Q&A duration

Class Sizes:

Up to 40 participants per session.

About the Course

Understanding how trade negotiations work in practice is critical not only to future generations of negotiators, but to all those within the broader civil service on whose areas of competence negotiations may touch.

This is a relentlessly practical course, which eschews grand negotiating theories in favor of relevant advice on management, execution and pitfall avoidance. It is designed to either build negotiating capacity from scratch, or to provide new starters and transfers with the core concepts they need to more readily benefit from existing corporate knowledge.

The course is customizable based on participant seniority level, with modules for front-line negotiators, chapter leads and chief negotiators.

Topics Covered

This course is designed to give future negotiators the confidence to hit the ground running once talks start, and to provide other civil servants with visibility of the process so they can better support and input into it.

Topics covered include:

Areas trade negotiations typically cover;
Structure of a ‘typical’ negotiating team and the roles of the:
- Negotiators;
- Chapter leads;
- Area leads;
- Chief negotiator;
- Minister/Cabinet;
- Officials from attached agencies;
What occurs during a ‘Negotiating Round’
- What occurs between rounds.
Domestic stakeholder engagement and management;
Red Lines, Green Lines and everything in between;
The “art” of negotiating
- Good faith versus acceptable duplicity:
How to understand the “asks” both sides will be making;
Understanding and utilizing decision making structures;
How to research and prepare for talks;
Building an effective expert support network;
How to make best use of your country’s diplomatic network;