Trade and Development Board, Sixty-seventh session (third segment)

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Arrangements for the consideration of item 4:
Preparatory process for the fifteenth session of the conference

On behalf of the President of the Trade and Development Board, H.E. Mr. Federico Villegas (Argentina), the UNCTAD secretariat has the honour to inform member States of the following arrangements for the consideration of agenda item 4 - Preparatory process for the fifteenth session of the conference.

The President will open the meeting by inviting the Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, to deliver opening remarks. This will be followed by a formal debate in which groups, individual members, observer states, and accredited observers will have the opportunity to make statements.

At the conclusion of this debate, time permitting, the President intends to convert the meeting into a closed session for an informal, off-the-record brainstorming on how to best arrange the work of the consensus-building pillar towards UNCTAD 15, especially that of the UNCTAD 15 Preparatory Committee, given these exceptional times. The President therefore encourages groups and members to engage freely and openly in this brainstorming. To this end, no records will be kept and there will consequently be no attribution of any ideas that may be shared at this brainstorming.

To guide the brainstorming session, participants may wish to consider addressing the following questions, among others:

1. What are the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on trade and development and how can we improve our substantive work and consensus building process towards UNCTAD XV?
2. What innovations can we bring to the organization of UNCTAD 15 to enhance its development impact, especially given the important contributions that UNCTAD as a whole can make in shaping the post-COVID world?

What deliverables could we work towards as concrete outcomes from UNCTAD 15?