My biggest self-improvement decision to date was applying for the master’s degree in international trade policy (MITP) programme at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy, and Services (SRC).

I am still astounded by how quickly the months have passed. My initial impression of the MITP programme’s preparatory steps was of an easy and hands-on application procedure, particularly the same-day phone and e-mail responses and timely information and precise programme schedules from the administration. As a prospective student, the degree of support as well as my burning desire to build multi-dimensional skill sets were some of the elements that drove my decision to pursue the programme.

When classes began, despite the diverse professional, cultural, and geographical backgrounds of our cohort (Cohort 20) and each student’s personal obligations and hectic daily schedules, we soon formed a resilient group that looked out for one another. In addition to this dynamic, our MITP lecturers ensured that we adhered to the university’s ethos and provided us with the support we required to successfully complete the MITP programme.

Fast-forward to the months of May and June 2023 when we would embark on the study tour component of the MITP — a two-week trip to Geneva, Switzerland. Our first meetup was adrenaline-charged as each student’s arrival in Barbados, our starting point, was met with hugs and excitement.

We settled comfortably in Geneva. The first week of the study tour entailed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit numerous Caricom and Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) missions. This was indeed a major high point for all as the experience allowed us to apply the theoretical knowledge we had acquired from the seven months of coursework in MITP to actual international trade policy. We were tasked with accompanying our assigned ambassadors and mission representatives to various World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations and workshops, such as those on e-commerce and the moratorium on digital goods.

As a budding trade expert from a small island developing state (SIDS), this hands-on experience was awe-inspiring as it brought into focus the benefits of the moratorium and the implications of non-renewal for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and women entrepreneurs in particular. Moreover, e-commerce consumer protection and the digital divide were also themes of the conversation as well as the content of electronic transmission and its characterisation of goods and services.

Having first-hand knowledge of developing countries’ views on the effects of moratoriums on development and fiscal implications and customs duties on electronically transmitted digital goods allowed me to apply these considerations to OECS developing countries, taking into account our financial and infrastructural constraints. Despite our size differences and vulnerabilities as fragile developing states, our concerns about the moratoriums’ impact on e-commerce growth and development were identical.

The first week of the tour provided me with the opportunity to interact with and understand the work of Caricom missions and their representatives’ journey to ambassadorship. This interaction illuminated SIDS’s various constraints, including size; trade share; susceptibility to exogenous shocks, like climate change, constrained economic base, and global commodity market volatility. I saw the many economic and export diversification prospects for our region despite these limitations.

As a future trade specialist, I wish to champion my region’s viewpoint like the Caricom missions. Another highlight of week one of the study tour was shadowing Allison St Bryce, charge’d affaires of the Trinidad and Tobago Permanent Mission and MITP graduate (Cohort 19). As part of Trinidad and Tobago’s team, I attended small group fisheries subsidy negotiations and watched diverse negotiation methods, talents, and styles in action. My favourite MITP course was INTR 6007 — international negotiation and advocacy — because I like international trade negotiations. I was also concerned about overfishing/overcapacity growing up in Grenada’s fishing village of Gouyave.

I also attended several WTO, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Trade Centre (ITC), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), International Labour Organization (ILO), and Geneva Graduate Institute sessions that week. All were aimed at exposing and educating us as future trade experts on several trade-related topics.

In the second week of the study tour we participated in the 2023 inaugural Joint University Study Tour (JUST), which is aimed at providing masters students with the real-world exposure necessary to nexus the practical and theoretical gaps and understand and experience the functions of the WTO and the multilateral trading system.

During the JUST week I joined other trade students from universities and countries, such as South Africa, Ethiopia, Tunisia, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

During that week, I was able to fulfil my wish of meeting the trailblazing Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO’s first female director general, who has had an illustrious career spanning over four decades on many continents.

I found her to be extremely passionate about youth empowerment and climate change, which are also areas of particular interest to me and my country, Grenada. Currently, my small island, like many others within the region, continues to be decimated by accelerated coastal erosion due to rising sea levels as well as persistent shocks to the highly dependent and endangered tourism industry. It is for this reason that I embarked on investigating the research topic ‘The Impact of Climate Change Mitigation Policies on Grenada’s Trade Initiatives’ as part of my master’s programme requirement. Similarly, youth empowerment in Grenada continues to be challenged due to high levels of youth unemployment.

As a trade professional and future ambassador for my region, I look forward to developing policies that will find innovative ways to combine viable climate-smart practices and productivity within the sectors of agriculture and tourism. This will, in turn, bridge climate change and high unemployment issues and foster youth empowerment and development. Moreover, in the session with the WTO’s director general, the WTO’s objectives of improving living standards and supporting sustainable development for SIDS were emphasised along with an outlook for the future of international trade and the organisation’s ongoing negotiations. That evening a JUST Tour welcome reception was hosted by the JUST organisers, including the SRC, which created the JUST Study Tour.

After learning more about trade in developing countries at UNCTAD later that week, I went to the WIPO and came away convinced that our region needs a stronger legal and regulatory framework as well as patent entities to protect its creative properties. Participants were also given the chance to ask the panellists questions, so my classmates and I took advantage of this and asked a question on the intellectual property (IP) component of trademarks and IP protection.

The next day was filled with in-depth discussions at Geneva’s Graduate Institute. During these seminars I liked getting hands-on experience with the cutting-edge technological aids used to simulate talks between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other groups and explore the role of artificial intelligence in international trade.

My time on the MITP Geneva study tour was beneficial. I learnt a great deal about various aspects of international trade and also developed the many transferable skills necessary for a successful career in this field.

Kamisha Redhead is an intern with the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados.