Twenty-five editors and reporters from around the Middle East gained valuable insights into the global financial crisis when they took part in Reuters workshops in Beirut in October.

Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF), in partnership with the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), organised the two workshops at the American University of Beirut. They were the last classes to be held in the old business school before the inauguration of a new building for the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (OSB) which includes a brand new e-training room with Reuters resources provided by TRF. The Foundation's CEO, Monique Villa, and Director of Journalism Training, Jo Weir, were among the international guests at the opening and were able to combine their visit with sitting in during part of the Reuters training.

The participants were drawn from Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. For some it was their first indepth training in business, economics and finance, as Reuters Global Investment Correspondent Daniel Bases and former Reuters journalist Heba Kandil guided them through the basics, with a heavy emphasis on money and the markets. They were introduced to the complexities of corporate business and financial instruments and also explored the structure of Islamic finance and its differences from western models. In particular the trainees welcomed improving their understanding of how the global financial crisis had started and evolved and its consequences.

Afterwards, many said they intended to share their new knowledge with their colleagues when they returned to their newsrooms.