UNCTAD has important role in the 2030 Agenda – UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General

“UNCTAD should play a central role in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the global community broadly agrees,” said UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General Joakim Reiter while addressing the ministerial meeting of the Group of 77 and China at the fourteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD 14, in Nairobi.

The integrated approach of UNCTAD, which sees trade as essential to development, is now widely accepted as the critical path for all developing countries to sustainable development, said Mr. Reiter, who had been invited to address the meeting.

And with the international community’s agreement last year on a transformative new development agenda, including the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals and the set of actions to finance those Goals, UNCTAD 14 comes at an exceptional moment.

“With the financing for development outcome at Addis Ababa, in particular paragraph 88, and the Sustainable Development Goals, we see unprecedented unanimity in finding a strong and central role for UNCTAD in implementing the 2030 Agenda,” Mr. Reiter said.

The UNCTAD quest of prosperity for all, however, remains elusive and the outlook for the global economy looks increasingly uncertain, Mr. Reiter said, noting that UNCTAD was created for developing countries, by developing countries.

“This is where the importance of UNCTAD 14 lies,” he added.