Multi-year expert meeting on commodities and development, second session

• Developments and challenges in commodity markets: current situation and outlook
  
  
• Review and identification of opportunities for the diversification of the energy matrix, including renewable energies, with awareness of countries’ needs, to ensure a proper balance between food security and energy concerns
  
  
• Trade-related policies and instruments and how to use them for resolving commodity problems
  
  
• Investment and financial policies for accessing financial resources for commodity-based development, including with respect to official development assistance, Aid for Trade and other possibilities

Input from experts: trade and development implications of developments in commodity markets

Experts nominated by member States are encouraged to submit brief papers (approximately five pages) as contributions to the work of the meeting. The papers should be submitted to the UNCTAD secretariat in advance of the meeting and will be made available at the meeting in the form and language in which they are received.

Papers, which should draw on the expert’s experience, may address one or more of the following issues:

• What have been the drivers of price trends in recent years in commodity markets and what are the opportunities and challenges faced by commodity-dependent developing countries stemming from these trends?
  
  
• What are the pros and the cons of alternative approaches to the development of alternative energy sources, including renewable sources in the future energy matrix? What is the likely impact of the development of some of these renewable energies (e.g. biofuels) on food and energy security?
  
  
• What are the policy measures through which low-income commoditydependent developing countries could enhance their competitiveness, including value addition in the medium to long term? How can these countries utilize the opportunities presented by the MTS to enhance their competitiveness? How can the constraints stemming from the MTSin this regards be addressed?
  
  
• What mechanisms are there for commodity producers and exporters to enhance their access to finance, particularly in times of economic recession? Do these mechanisms meet the commodity finance needs of smaller players in low-income commodity-dependent developing countries?

For more information, contact:

Kwabena Baah-Duodu
OIC, Special Unit on Commodities


Tel.: +41 22 917 2128
Fax.: +41 22 917 0042
E-mail: kwabena.baah-duodu@unctad.org