The UNCTAD Trade and Development Board (TDB), meeting in an executive session on 10 July, adopted by consensus a mid-term assessment of the implementation of the decisions taken at UNCTAD IX (Midrand, South Africa, 1996). The text (TD/B/EX(18)/L.2) is the successful outcome of a series of intergovernmental consultations chaired by Ambassador Nacer Benjelloun-Toumi (Morocco). It reviews progress made, and obstacles encountered by the organization over the past two years and provides recommendations for work to be undertaken before UNCTAD X, in Thailand in February 2000. The Mid-Term Review text will be submitted for endorsement by the TDB, at high-level, on 23 October.
The reform project embodied in the outcome of UNCTAD IX was a turning point in the history of UNCTAD. It resulted in a streamlining of the intergovernmental machinery of the organization, its work programme and the structure of the secretariat, as well as in a new approach based on dialogue and consensus-building and on practical objectives.
In this first formal stock-taking, UNCTAD’s member States agree that the work in the secretariat and at the intergovernmental level has proceeded along the lines mandated by the conference, which essentially aim at assisting developing countries and economies-in-transition to participate more effectively in the world economy under conditions conducive to their development. They note, however, that the organization has encountered certain structural problems, such as a growing gap between the level of requirements and the level of human and financial resources available to the secretariat. They also believe that linkages between analytical work and technical cooperation could be strengthened.
According to its member States, "the unique contribution of UNCTAD has to be made through its analytical function and by linking research and action, analysis and policies". Such a linkage should be reflected in the intergovernmental consensus-building process, in UNCTAD’s operational activities, and through enhanced partnerships with civil society.
UNCTAD member States recognize that such partnerships for development, which should be "the hallmark of UNCTAD", they said, will require further changes in the way the organization conducts its daily business. UNCTAD should strengthen its links with civil society, in particular the private sector tapping its innovative capacity, engaging in joint activities, and supplementing funding. Links with other international organizations and the UN’s regional commissions should be aimed at increasing synergies and avoiding duplication. UNCTAD is also requested to produce an annual report of its activities, in order to achieve greater transparency and to permit a better assessment of its work and achievements.
The recommendations call for better integration of the work on cross-sectoral issues into the work of the intergovernmental machinery. Such issues comprise the problems of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), poverty alleviation, economic cooperation among developing countries, sustainable development and the empowerment of women.
Work on assistance to the least developed, landlocked and island developing countries should be strengthened. To that end, LDC issues should be fully integrated into the work of the intergovernmental machinery; moreover, the lack of effective participation of LDCs in UNCTAD meetings should be addressed by the Board. The Board’s decisions on the follow-up to the High-Level Meeting on Integrated Initiatives for LDCs’ Trade Development, which was held in the World Trade Organization in October 1997, should be fully implemented. The Office of the Special Coordinator for LDCs in UNCTAD should be strengthened, as should the secretariat coordination and focal point mechanism for activities relating to Africa, member States agreed.
UNCTAD is invited to help build the institutional and human capacities of developing countries in a number of specific areas. Among these are: participation in multilateral trade negotiations, trade and development promotion through foreign investment, and commodity risk management. Other specific recommendations call for an analysis of the impact of global electronic commerce on development, and the impact of the European Monetary Union and the euro on developing countries.
