Elizabeth Morgan | UNCTAD XV, Barbados, October 3-7: Focusing on inequality and vulnerability

Barbados is hosting a significant United Nations (UN) conference, the 15th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XV), from October 3-7. Barbados is the first country in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Small Island Developing State (SIDS) to host this conference. Led by a small state in one of the world’s most vulnerable regions, the conference theme appropriately is ‘From inequality and vulnerability to prosperity for all’.

The first UNCTAD conference was held in 1964 when the imperative was the link between trade and development, and integrating into the global trading system the increasing number of developing countries emerging from colonialism. These countries were joining the UN and associated bodies, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

Only two of CARICOM’s members, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, having become independent in 1962, were present at UNCTAD I in Geneva. In 1968, UNCTAD became a UN specialised agency headquartered in Geneva. Its current membership is 195 countries, including UN observers, the Holy See (the Vatican) and Palestine.

UNCTAD’s mandate is given as supporting developing countries in accessing the benefits of the globalised economy more fairly and effectively, and in equipping them to deal with the possible challenges arising from greater economic integration. UNCTAD thus provides analysis, facilitates consensus building, and offers technical assistance. This helps developing countries to use trade, investment, finance and technology as vehicles for inclusive and sustainable development.

At the national, regional and global levels, UNCTAD assists countries, among other things, to achieve beneficial integration into the international trading system; diversify economies; limit their exposure to financial volatility and debt; increase access to digital technology; and promote entrepreneurship and innovation.

Working with other UN bodies, UNCTAD measures progress in achieving the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this time also, UNCTAD is monitoring the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on manufacturing, trade, foreign direct investment and economic growth.

As I pointed out in my article of July 2, UNCTAD has its first female secretary general, Rebecca Grynspan of Costa Rica, who assumed her post in September.

UNCTAD XV

UNCTAD’s ministerial conference is held every four years and is the main decision-making body. It agrees the four-year (quadrennial) work programme of the organisation. In 2019, Barbados offered to host UNCTAD XV in October 2020 as a customary in-person gathering which would have seen delegations attending from most of its members. COVID-19 changed those plans. The conference was postponed and rescheduled to this year hoping for the in-person participation.

But, with COVID-19 continuing, resilience and innovation are being demonstrated as the meeting will proceed in primarily a virtual format with a Caribbean flavour. It will have three world leaders’ summit dialogues addressing global vulnerabilities, inequality in the global pandemic, and building a more prosperous development path. There will also be five ministerial round tables as well as the general debate. The conference was preceded by forums on commodities, youth, civil society, gender and development, and creative industries and trade digitisation.

New chapter in trade and development

Against the backdrop of COVID-19 and a range of previously existing global problems, UNCTAD XV is seen as starting a new chapter in trade and development with the objective of further defining the needs of developing countries to better integrate into the global economy.

Work has been progressing in Geneva to arrive at an agreed text of the outcome document. With the conference being hosted by a SIDS and given the theme, Barbados, with CARICOM partners and other SIDS members, is aiming to have it focus on the vulnerabilities of small states. In past years, UNCTAD’s focus has been on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), so it is understandable that CARICOM’s aim is to promote further action on issues of concern to this region. It is reported that on September 28, Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, chaired the 96th Special Meeting of the CARICOM Council on Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to fine-tune the region’s negotiating positions for UNCTAD XV.

The conference opens on Monday, October 4, and will be addressed by the UN Secretary General António Guterres; the UNCTAD Secretary General Rebecca Grynspan; the outgoing chair, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya; and Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados as the incoming conference chair.

- Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade policy and international politics. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com