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Trade and Development Board concludes 59th session

01 October 2012

The TDB wrapped up negotiations Friday under its agenda item on economic development in Africa and thus concluded its annual two-week session.

Talks on agreed conclusions to the TDB's agenda item on "Economic development in Africa: Structural transformation and sustainable development" ran well into Friday evening before a final text was approved.

The TDB then completed its work for this session.

Deputy Secretary-General Petko Draganov, in a closing statement, thanked all delegates for the spirit of cooperation that was manifested during the two week long session and expressed UNCTAD's readiness to implement the agreed conclusions.

Among other topics discussed during the 59th session were "evolution of the international trading system and of international trade from a development perspective" - including focus on the emerging "green economy." UNCTAD announced during the session that it would host in December the first session of a new Forum on Trade and the Green Economy. The Forum is intended to help resolve conflicts involving trade rules and government environmental measures before they go to more formal dispute-settlement mechanisms.

At the TDB's 21 September meeting, UNCTAD presented a report to the Board titled "Enabling the Graduation of LDCs: Enhancing the Role of Commodities and Improving Agricultural Productivity." Citing case studies of situations in Zambia, Benin, and Cambodia, that report noted that the world financial and economic crisis has reversed recent growth trends in the world's poorest nations, dampening the prospects that half of the 48 least developed countries (LDCs) will be able to "graduate" from that status by the end of the decade, as called for by last year's Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in Istanbul.

In addition, the TDB discussed the work plan prepared by UNCTAD pursuant to the TDB discussions of the JIU report on review of administration and management of UNCTAD and adopted a set of agreed conclusions and took note of two Statements related to the Work Plan made on behalf of the European Union and the G77.

Also debated during the 59th session were the topics "Development strategies in a globalized world: Reducing inequalities for balanced and sustainable development"; and "Investment for sustainable development: Towards a new generation of investment policies for inclusive growth and sustainable development." These discussions were based, respectively, on the UNCTAD Trade and Development Report 2012, which focuses on income inequality, and on the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2012, which includes an investment policy framework for sustainable development.