Uphold UNCTAD commitments to drive global development

The 14th UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) begun on Sunday  in Nairobi with leaders calling for tangible resolutions that will drive global development through sustainable investments.

President Uhuru Kenyatta urged the delegates to come up with a framework of ensuring their deliberations are implemented.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank all the negotiators who have worked hard on the outcome document for this conference, I am made to believe that this document will outline UNCTAD’s program of work for the next four years and indeed it deserves you that the mandate of UNCTAD should be strengthened so that it can play a more meaningful role in the implementation of our new global agenda,” he told the conference in his opening statement.

“The same challenges discussed in Nairobi at the 4th Unctad conference in 1976 are even more relevant today. It is my hope that this year’s conference’s focus on action will be a key game changer in driving some of the agreements we have reached previously in promoting trade and innovation, which are central to our development agendas,” said President Kenyatta.

Subsequently, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged participants to focus on strong collaboration, equality and inclusion in trade, finance and investment in order to better align action with agreed-upon sustainable development targets and help restore trust in the global economy.

“The successful actions we will need over the next 15 years – especially in the area of trade, investment, technology and finance – require that we tap the full potential of all actors, promote innovation and correct unsustainable trends,” Mr. Ban said.

“We must work together – across sectors and industries – in broader and deeper partnerships,” he added.

The Secretary-General also noted that this year’s session is the first major UN development conference since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

In particular, he highlighted that the 2030 Agenda will guide global collective action for sustainable development over the next 15 years.

“The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a blueprint for how the global economy, society and the environment should look in 2030, along with specific actions that will be required at global, regional and national levels,” the UN chief emphasized.

“The vision set out in the SDGs – for people, planet, prosperity and peace – will not succeed if shocks and stresses in our global economic and financial system are not properly addressed. Trade must provide prosperity in ways that work for people and planet and respond to the challenges of climate change,” Mr. Ban said.

UNCTAD Secretary General Dr Mukhisa Kituyi paid tribute to the UN boss who is attending his last UNCTAD conference as well as urging delegates to seek ways of strengthening international solidarity.

“On behalf of UNCTAD I want to thank you that through your tenure you have attended and opened all the three UNCTAD conferences. I want to bid you welcome to give us guidance as we try to move forward on how our actionable agenda can inform lasting success of not only this conference but international solidarity that leaves no one behind,” he said.

The session, which has been held every four years since 1964, includes ministerial debates, high-level round tables, and thematic events, a World Investment Forum, a Global Commodities Forum, a Youth Forum and a Civil Society Forum, among other events. This year’s theme is “From Decisions to Actions.”

UNCTAD will focus on four areas: the challenges and opportunities posed by the multilateral system in trade and development; the enhancement of  overall and sustainable development through trade, investment, financing, and technology in order to achieve prosperity for all; achieving a structural economic transformation to enable economic flexibility, address obstacles to trade and development, and benefit from available opportunities; and finally, how to contribute to the active implementation of the global Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 issued by the United Nations in September 2015.

The conference ends on July 22.