UN Trade and Development

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body. It is the principal organ of the United Nations General Assembly dealing with trade, investment, and development issues.

The organization's goals are to "maximize the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries and assist them in their efforts to integrate into the world economy on an equitable basis." (from official website). The creation of the conference was based on concerns of developing countries over the international market, multi-national corporations, and great disparity between developed nations and developing nations.

In the 1970s and 1980s, UNCTAD was closely associated with the idea of a New International Economic Order (NIEO).

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was established in 1964 in order to provide a forum where the developing countries could discuss the problems relating to their economic development. UNCTAD grew from the view that existing institutions like GATT (now replaced by the WTO), the IMF , and World Bank were not properly organized to handle the particular problems of developing countries. UNCTAD has 193 members.

The primary objective of the UNCTAD is to formulate policies relating to all aspects of development including trade, aid, transport, finance and technology. The Conference ordinarily meets once in four years. The first conference took place in Geneva in 1964, second in New Delhi in 1968, the third in Santiago in 1972, fourth in Nairobi in 1976, the fifth in Manila in 1979, the sixth in Belgrade in 1983, the seventh in Geneva in 1987, the eighth in Cartagena in 1992 and the ninth at Johannesburg (South Africa)in 1996. The Conference has its permanent secretariat in Geneva.

One of the principal achievements of UNCTAD has been to conceive and implement the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). It was argued in UNCTAD, that in order to promote exports of manufactured goods from developing countries, it would be necessary to offer special tariff concessions to such exports. Accepting this argument, the developed countries formulated the GSP Scheme under which manufacturers' exports and some agricultural goods from the developing countries enter duty-free or at reduced rates in the developed countries. Since imports of such items from other developed countries are subject to the normal rates of duties, imports of the same items from developing countries would enjoy a competitive advantage.

Currently, UNCTAD has 193 member States and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. UNCTAD has 400 staff members and an annual regular budget of approximately US$50 million and US$25 million of extra budgetary technical assistance funds. It is also a member of the United Nations Development Group.

Meetings

The inter-governmental work is done at 5 levels of meetings:

• The UNCTAD Conference – held every 4 years;
  • UNCTAD XIII will be held in Doha, Qatar in 2012
  • UNCTAD XII was held in Accra, Ghana in 21–25 April 2008 [1]
  • UNCTAD XI was held in São Paulo, Brazil in 13–18 June 2004 [2]
  • UNCTAD X was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 12–19 February 2000 [3]
  • UNCTAD IX was held in Midrand, South Africa in 27 April – 11 May 1996
  • UNCTAD VIII was held in Cartagena, Colombia in 8–25 February 1992

• The UNCTAD Trade and Development Board – the Board manages the work of UNCTAD in between two Conferences and meets up to three times every year;
• Four UNCTAD Commissions and one Working Party – these meet more often than the Board in order to take up policy, programme and budgetary issues;
• Expert Meetings – the Commissions will convene expert meetings on selected topics in order to provide substantive and expert input for Commission policy discussions.

Geneva, 1964

In response to developing country ( ldc) anxiety at their worsening position in world trade, the United Nations General Assembly voted for a 'one off' conference. These early discussions paved the way for new IMF facilities to provide finance for shortfalls in commodity earnings, and for the Generalised Preference Schemes which increased access to Northern markets for manufactured imports from the South. At Geneva, the Idcs were successful in their proposal for the conference with its Secretariat to become a permanent organ of the UN, with meetings every four years.

New Delhi, 1968

The New Delhi Conference, held in February and March 1968, was a forum that allowed developing countries to reach agreement on basic principles of their development policies. While the first conference was held in Geneva in 1964, the second conference in New Delhi was an opportunity for schemes to be finally approved. The conference provided a major impetus in persuading the North to follow up UNCTAD I resolutions, in establishing generalised preferences. The target for private and official flows to ldcs was raised to 1% of the North's GNP, but the developed countries failed to commit themselves to achieving the target by a specific date. This has proven a continuing point of debate at UNCTAD conferences. The conference also led to the International Sugar Agreement, which seeks to stabilise world sugar prices.

Santiago Conference 1972

The Santiago Conference, April 15th 1972, was the third occasion on which the developing countries have confronted the rich with the need to use trade and aid measures more effectively to improve living standards in the developing world.

Nairobi Conference 1976 and Manila 1979

UNCTAD IV held in Nairobi May 1976, showed relative success compared to its predecessors. An Overseas Development Institute briefing paper of April 1979 highlights one reason for success as being down to the 1973 Oil Crisis and the encouragement of ldcs to make gains through producers of other commodoties.

UNCTAD V in the wake of the Nairobi Conference, held in Manila 1979 focused on the key issues of: protectionism in dcs and the need for structural change, trade in commodities and manufactures aid and international monetary reform,technology, shipping, and economic co-operation among developing countries. An Overseas Development Institute briefing paper written in 1979 focuses its attention on the key issues regarding the ldcs role as the Group of 77 in the international community.

Reports

UNCTAD produces a number of topical reports, including:

• The Trade and Development Report [4]
• The Trade and Environment Review [5]
• The World Investment Report [6]
• The Economic Development in Africa Report [7]
• The Least Developed Countries Report [8]
• UNCTAD Statistics [9]
• The Information Economy Report [10]
• The Review of Maritime Transport [11]
• The International Accounting and Reporting Issues Annual Review [12]

Other

UNCTAD also conducts various technical cooperation programmes [13] such as ASYCUDA, DMFAS, EMPRETEC and WAIPA.

In addition, UNCTAD conducts certain technical cooperation in collaboration with the World Trade Organization through the joint International Trade Centre (ITC), a technical cooperation agency targeting operational and enterprise-oriented aspects of trade development.

UNCTAD hosts the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) [14]

Complete List of Secretaries-General and Officers-in-Charge

#	Photo	Secretary-General	Dates in office	Country of origin	Remarks	References
1		Dr. Raúl Prebisch	1963–1969	Argentina
2		Mr. Manuel Pérez-Guerrero	1969–1974	Venezuela
3		Dr. Gamani Corea	1974–1984	Sri Lanka
4		Mr. Alister McIntyre	1985	Grenada	Officer-in-Charge
5		Mr. Kenneth K.S. Dadzie	1986–1994	Ghana
6		Mr. Carlos Fortin	1994–1995	Chile	Officer-in-Charge
7		Mr. Rubens Ricupero	1995–2004	Brazil
8		Mr. Carlos Fortin	2004–2005	Chile	Officer-in-Charge
9		Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi	1 September 2005 – present	Thailand		[15]

See also

• International trade
• Foreign direct investment
• List of countries by received FDI
• Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP)

External links

• UNCTAD home page
• UNCTAD Member states
• International Trade Centre home page
• UNCTAD: Time to Lead (Focus on the Global South)
• Global Policy Forum – UNCTAD
• International Trade Debates
• ODI Breifing Papers on the UNCTAD

Bibliography

• Paul Berthoud, A Professional Life Narrative, 2008, worked with UNCTAD and offers testimony from the inside.