Last month a group of twenty-five midlevel professionals from Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco and Egypt came to the Netherlands to partake in a two-week training on “Trade Promotion and Economic Diplomacy”. This training is part of the Matra-South programme funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was organised by the Clingendael Academy in cooperation with Berenschot management consultants.

The Netherlands

The first week of training was held at the Clingendael Academy and focused on developing the participants’ knowledge regarding trade promotion and on exchanging ideas with Dutch practitioners from both the private and the public sector.

Besides numerous working visits such as to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Rotterdam Port Authority, the group participated in an interview carrousel with numerous businesses and attended a variety of interactive lectures on public and economic diplomacy.

Tunisia

The second week of the programme took place on location in Tunisia in December, where participants engaged in a variety of interactive workshops. These were aimed at honing their skills in international negotiations, lobbying, intercultural communication, as well as change and project management.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"4854","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"360","style":"width: 350px; height: 263px; float: right;","width":"480"}}]]The group was also split into smaller teams, which were given the challenge to build towers with only the materials provided to them. The goal of the exercise was not to build the highest tower, but to effectively distribute roles and to create an esprit de corps amongst the different nationalities in each team. All this was excellently done by the participants, though some towers stood the test of time a little longer than others…

The participants and trainers from both the Clingendael Academy and Berenschot can all look back at a most successful programme!

More information?

Please feel free to contact Mr. Hans Wurzer MA, Training and Research Fellow at the Clingendael Academy.

- 5 January 2015