Avasant President speaks at the Commonwealth Trade Regional Workshop to enhance competitiveness in services of Pacific Countries

Los Angeles, USA, January 27, 2012: Commonwealth Trade Section organized a Regional Workshop in Sydney, between 24^th-26^th Jan 2012, to discuss strategies to increase competitiveness of Pacific Countries in Services. The workshop aimed to provide a platform for participants in the region to take stock of developments in services trade; share experiences in promoting IT enabled services and together chart a way forward to improve their competitiveness and performance. The key objectives of the workshop were: Officials from Trade Department of eleven  Commonwealth Countries were represented in the workshop - Australia; Cook Islands; Kiribati; Nauru; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Samoa; Solomon Island; Tonga; Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Dr.P.K.Mukherji, President & Managing Partner of Avasant was invited to speak during the event on "Opportunities in ITES/BPO for Pacific Countries and Challenges". Greater focus on trade in services in regional trade policy through expansion of the Pacific Island Trade Agreement (PICTA) to include trade in services, ongoing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) to incorporate trade in services and the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER+), combined with rising value of Australian dollar opens up the possibility of enhancing services trade within the region. Dr. Mukherji also outlined a roadmap countries in the region can adopt to gain a share of the growing world trade in IT enabled services / BPO. About Commonwealth Secretariat - Special advisory Services Division Over the past 5 years, the Trade Section has supported 18 Member States to formulate strategies aimed at enhancing export of professional services (that is, non-tourism services). The countries include 8 in the Caribbean; 6 in Africa; and 4 in both Europe and Asia. In addition, the Section has organized 2 conferences for Member States to learn, network and share experiences. While the value of a Pan-Commonwealth platform to address common issues has been widely appreciated, there is a need to take account of regional specificities and to open the events to a broader range of participants. Therefore, the Section is organizing regional capacity building events to meet this need. The first workshop for the Caribbean region was held in St. Kitts and Nevis in November 2010 and the second, for Africa was held in Kenya in June 2011. The subject of this note is a similar workshop for the Pacific region to be held in early 2012.Through this workshop, the Section aims to provide a platform for participants in the region to take stock of developments in services trade; share experiences in promoting non-tourism services and together chart a way forward to improve their performance. About Avasant Avasant is next generation top management consulting, research and events firm servicing global clients across the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Our talented team of consultants, lawyers and technologists average over 20 years of industry-honed experience and have conducted over 1,000+ engagements in over 40 countries worldwide. Avasant drives customer value through the use of our proprietary consulting and advisory methods, which have been refined over decades of 'real-world' transaction and engagement experience.  The combination of our world-class resources allows Avasant to yield superior business outcomes in three primary domains: Strategic Sourcing, Technology Optimization and Globalization Consulting. Avasant is recognized in the industry as a leading globalization, sourcing and IT strategy firm.  According to the International Association of Outsourcers (IAOP), Avasant is ranked among the "World Best Outsourcing Advisors".  Further, Avasant holds honored distinctions as the Black Book of Outsourcing's 'Number 1 BPO Advisor' and 'Top 10 Full Service Advisor'. For more information on Avasant, please visit https://avasant.com For more information, Contact Avasant LLC Voice: +1.310.643.3030 Fax: +1.310.643.3033 marketing@avasant.com contactus@avasant.com