What is Dialogue?

Dialogue is a training & toolkit package used to structure efficient meetings between trade agreement negotiating teams and all parts of the business community. It provides a mechanism to improve understanding of the impact and application of agreements at a sector level and to consolidate positions across several sectors. It also allows each party, particularly SME’s, to clearly articulate their interests, prioritise their concerns and examine different scenarios to support the development of negotiating positions. 

Dialogue helps the business community to assess the challenges posed by negotiated agreements and evaluate the implications for their business practices, trading opportunities and support requirements. ITC trains counterpart organisations in the application and use of Dialogue and can also provide distance coaching for counterparts.

How does it work?

Dialogue employs a value chain approach to structure discussions around three sides of the trade equation: 

• Exporting - target markets, access, and entry criteria, buyers and distribution channels

• Importing – impact of rules of origin and market entry criteria, including: quality standards (TBT’s, NTBT’s), supply requirements, services and sources of supply

• Value addition for the national economy - tariffs and quotas, impact throughout a sector’s value chains on business and trade support services, employment, revenue generation and growth

Counterpart organisations organise a short, structured meeting with representatives from each stage of a sector of the economy. This is repeated for all the main sectors or those that are the focus of negotiations. Outputs from each sector are examined for complementarities or incompatibilities and are then consolidated. 

How long does it take?

Using Dialogue, participants in sector-level meetings work through a set of practical exercises that take between 4 to 6 hours to complete. The meetings are followed by consolidation and validation of the structured and prioritised outputs with the different parties.

How is it delivered?

Dialogue is hosted by counterpart organisations that are responsible for organising or moderating meetings between trade negotiation teams and the business community. A short training is given to the counterpart in association with the first meetings and distance coaching is provided for up to one year. A package of materials provides counterpart organisations with everything they need to organise and manage effective meetings: a process guide, templates, examples and tips. These materials, the training, and distance coaching are provided under a usage agreement with ITC. They can be adapted by the counterpart and used in the languages of the communities involved in the meetings.

What are the Outputs?

The outputs from each meeting are clearly articulated position and prioritised needs statements for each sector, including:

• Optimum negotiating position and prioritised needs

• Impact analyses

• Graphic representations of value chains, supplies, distribution, market access and entry criteria and examples of the costs of bringing products to retail points 

What are the cost components?

Cost elements include: Time of ITC specialists, return travel to and from Geneva to conduct a training mission, Dialogue materials and distance coaching support for up to 1 year.