The St. Lucia Coalition of Services Industries convened three (3) one day workshops during March 16 – 18, 2009 in St. Lucia at which the key strategic elements for exporting services were a major highlight. The first one-day workshop offered specialized training to its Board Members on financing options to ensure sustainability of the Coalition, developing a Strategy to address the needs of its membership and best practices to overcome institutional challenges.

 Representatives from the National Coalitions from the Commonwealth of Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines also participated in the workshop. 

The second and third one-day workshops exposed potential local services exporters as well as Professional Services Firms to modern techniques and strategies for successful exporting and the skills required for entering new markets. Issues such as selecting and preparing to target new markets, relationship marketing and establishing global profiles were examined. The regional and international trading agreements that govern trade in services were also discussed. At least twenty people attended each workshop with participants drawn from the wellness, travel, Information technology, consulting and real estate sectors amongst others. 

The St. Lucia Coalition of Services Industries is of the view that such training workshops are important for its membership since the Services Sector is the driver of the OECS economies. It is expected that such training activities would be ongoing in partnership with the OECS Secretariat and the Ministry of Trade.