To strengthen the human resource and institutional capacity in developing countries and countries with economies in transition so as to enable these countries to (a) gain a better understanding of the interrelated issues in the areas of trade, investment, finance and technology; (b) enhance local and regional training capacity in these areas; (c) participate as effectively as possible in discussions and negotiations on these issues; (d) establish the basis for a continuous and systematic form of training and capacity-building at the international, regional and national levels and a network of expertise in developing countries and countries with economies in transition on these issues