Thirty-second session of the Committee of Participants of the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP)
19 September 2023
Dear Federico Villegas, President of the GSTP Committee of Participants,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
It gives me great pleasure to warmly welcome you to this 32nd session of the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP) Committee of Participants.
I wish to congratulate President Villegas and all GSTP Participants on holding this session today.
The meeting will give us the opportunity to consider ways to revive this historic instrument to better address the development challenges of today.
The GSTP is a unique partnership framework of South-South trade cooperation created by the Group of 77 under the auspices of UNCTAD.
However, the value of GSTP has been underutilized owing to the impasse in the ratification of the São Paulo Round results concluded in 2010.
As you will be discussing today, we now have a window of opportunity opened for the entry into force of the São Paulo Round results as the recent completion of Brazil’s ratification has created a much-needed forward movement.
The GSTP is not only a historic document but also an effective instrument for addressing today’s challenges. For instance, under the current context of “polycrisis”, the GSTP can provide a valuable platform for advancing trade cooperation to achieve sustainable energy transition, decarbonization and greater food security.
At the UN Trade Forum held in May this year, South-South trade cooperation under the GSTP was recognized as a “high-impact trade initiative for accelerating the SDGs”.
I wish to encourage you to think creatively and take decisive actions to put GSTP into productive use to address new and emerging challenges.
On our part, I wish to assure you of UNCTAD’s full commitment to supporting your effort to strengthen South-South trade cooperation under the GSTP.
I wish you success in your deliberation. Thank you.
