accelerating sdgs

Third United Nations Trade Forum

Location: Room XXVI, Palais des Nations, Geneva

Date: 8 and 9 May 2023

Format: Hybrid (in-person and remote) 

UNCTAD will host the third iteration of the United Nations Trade Forum, to take stock of trade policies that are best tailored to addressing the challenges that the world is facing. Discussions will focus on approaches that will make trading systems more resilient, particularly in developing countries, and will help clarify the effectiveness and feasibility of a set of trade-related “high-impact initiatives” to respond to global challenges and expedite progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The United Nations Trade Forum will be organized in four plenary meetings on the following topics: South–South trade partnerships and the potential of the global system of trade preferences among developing countries; launch of Trade and Environment Review 2023; contribution of competition and consumer protection policies to sustainable production and consumption patterns; and launch of an UNCTAD study on electronic commerce from a gender and development perspective. This event provides a platform to identify cooperation frameworks to contribute to the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals Summit (high-level political forum on sustainable development, September 2023), the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (November 2023) and the Thirteenth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (in early 2024). The Forum will also set the scene for the UNCTAD@60 celebrations in 2024.

Participation
Registration should be completed online at United Nations Trade Forum. Communications concerning representation should be sent to the UNCTAD secretariat, Intergovernmental Outreach and Support Service, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland; fax: 41 22 917 02 14; email: meetings@unctad.org.
The Forum is open to all member States of UNCTAD. Those wishing to attend the event are requested to provide the UNCTAD secretariat with the credentials of their representatives and the names of their alternative representatives and advisers by Wednesday, 3 May 2023. Specialized agencies and intergovernmental bodies wishing to participate in the meeting and non-governmental organizations in the general category and those in the special category who wish to participate as observers are requested to inform the UNCTAD secretariat of the names of their representatives by the same date. With travel and meeting restrictions now largely lifted, attendance in person is actively encouraged, although remote participation will be available.

Logistics
The Forum will be held with physical participation, at the Palais des Nations, and remote participation, through a simultaneous interpretation platform in the six official languages of the United Nations. A link to the formal virtual meeting will be sent to registered participants, at the email address used for registration, one day in advance of the start of the Forum. For in-person attendance, before entering the Palais des Nations, participants are requested to collect their badges from the United Nations Security Service, at Villa Les Feuillantines, 13 avenue de la Paix. The Security Service is open from 8 a.m. to 4.45 p.m. Because of the security measures in force, participants are strongly advised to arrive before 9 a.m. to complete entry procedures in good time and proceed to the meeting in Building E of the Palais through the Peace Gate bis. Participants are requested to carry a passport or similar national identity card with them. Taxis are not allowed to enter the grounds of the Palais des Nations. Visitors should therefore be dropped off at the indicated
entrance gates. Furthermore, luggage may not be brought into the buildings unless the Security Service gives special clearance.

Further information and contact details
For all other enquiries, please contact David Vivas Eugui, Chief of Section, Economic Affairs, Division on International Trade and Commodities, UNCTAD, email: david.vivaseugui@unctad.org.

For more information, please visit the UNCTAD Website.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org.