Target 18 of Goal 17 calls for enhanced capacity-building support to developing countries to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data about populations that are disaggregated by, among other things, migratory status. In 2018, we helped countries in Africa to understand migration patterns and proposed policies to deal with this under-analyzed factor in their trade and development plans. In this context, our research on remittances – the money migrants send home – also contributed to Target 3 of Goal 17 on mobilizing financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources.

In 2018, we worked in support of the preparation and negotiation of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), signed during the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, in Morocco in December.

The GCM is the first-ever global agreement on a common approach towards international migration in all its dimensions, and our work aimed to help countries optimize the overall benefits of migration for inclusive trade, development and the achievement of the Agenda 2030.

In May we launched our Economic Development in Africa Report 2018: Migration for Structural Transformation to provide timely guidance on the various economic and trade-related dimensions of intra-African migration. The report served as a critical input for the international community in defining an African position in the GCM.

In the run-up to GCM adoption, we hosted a high-level informal dialogue on African migration at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with AU commissioners and the Moroccan ambassador, and organized a High-Level Panel on Migration and Structural Transformation in Africa at the United Nations in New York.

The panel, held during the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, provided a platform to raise awareness and discuss how to maximize the economic and developmental impacts of migration in Africa. The discussion featured UN General Assembly president María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, and the foreign ministers of co-organizers Morocco and Rwanda.

Our work on migration in Africa in 2018 also contributed to Target 8 of Goal 8 on protecting labour rights and promoting safe and secure working environments for migrant workers, Target 7 of Goal 10 on facilitating orderly, safe regular and responsible migration (in line with the GCM), and Target 2 of Goal 16 on ending human trafficking.

In June, UNCTAD published a compendium of policy options for Least Developed Countries to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which comprises several goals which explicitly refer to income growth, employment creation, and industrialization. The achievement of the Goals depends on progress made on the economic front and “strengthening the means of implementation” under Goal 17.

UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed launched the action-oriented, user-friendly and visually-enhanced publication for policymakers in LDCs.

In 2018, we supported the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) by organizing, together with UN economic commissions for Asia and the Pacific, and Europe, a regional expert group meeting on the Midterm Review of the Midterm Review of the Vienna Programme of Action for the LLDCs for the Decade 2014–2024, to be held in 2019.

In December, together with the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, we organized a meeting to support LLDC ambassadors in New York preparing for the midterm review.

In 2018 we continued to assist LLDCs to diversify their exports and transform the structure of their economies by, for example, preparing a study on export diversification in four Asian commodity-dependent LLDCs: Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Turkmenistan. We shared the findings with policymakers at a sub-regional meeting co-organized with the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in October.

Another $2.5 trillion is needed every year for developing countries to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, but because public investment and official development assistance alone cannot meet this need, private investment must be channeled to Goal-oriented economic activity. We have developed two key frameworks to steer investment policies toward delivering on the 2030 Agenda:

• Action Plan for Investment in the Sustainable Development Goals
• Investment Policy Framework for the Sustainable Development

These strategic frameworks help meet:

• Target 3 of Goal 17 to “mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources.”
• Target 14 of Goal 17 to “enhance policy coherence for sustainable development.”
• Target 15 of Goal 17 to “respect each country’s policy space and leadership to establish and implement policies for poverty eradication and sustainable development.”

Also, our work on investment aligns with:

• Target B of Goal 1 to “create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions.”
• Target B Goal 16 to “promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development.”

The UNCTAD World Investment Forum in October 2018 provided an opportunity to convey and disseminate UNCTAD’s suite of policy frameworks to more than 6,000 people from the global investment community.

Nearly a third of the participants came from the private sector while the presence of 11 heads of state and government, 55 ministers, 70 parliamentarians and dozens of thought-leaders, influencers and special guests fortified the meeting.

The week-long forum, comprised of more than 70 sessions organized with over 50 partners, focused dialogue on how the world can use investment to achieve sustainable development, specifically Targets 3 and 15 of Goal 17.

UNCTAD’s comprehensive foreign direct investment (FDI) data and statistical analysis provide developing countries with an accurate statistical snapshot upon which to base their sustainable development-oriented policies.

In 2018, we published two Global Investment Trends Monitors – including a widely publicized special edition on the topical issue of tax reforms in the United States. The quality and usability of the data and analysis in these reports generates an average of 450 press articles each edition.

We also provide a sustained capacity-building programme to build skills in developing countries to establish accurate data capturing and statistical analysis and practice. The combination of data and analysis together with useful capacity building enables UNCTAD to contribute to Target 19 of Goal 17 to “build on existing initiatives to development measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product and support statistical capacity building in developing countries.”

Hard data is complemented by programmes that provide a range of advisory services and technical assistance to help countries mainstream sustainable development investment policymaking at the national and international levels.

UNCTAD supports the reform of the multi-layered and fragmented international investment agreement (IIA) regime and its convergence with sustainable development objectives by monitoring trends, identifying key emerging issues and strengthening the capacity of beneficiary countries to handling IIA complexities.

This work contributes to Target 14 of Goal 17 “to enhance policy coherence for sustainable development,” as well as Target B of Goal 1 “to create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions.”

In 2018, we published three issues notes on recent developments in the overall regime, while another focused on investor-state dispute settlement, and specifically intra-European arbitration cases.

The 2018 High-Level IIA Conference, which took place during the World Investment Forum in October, gathered investment policy stakeholders to discuss IIA reform and coherence and provided the opportunity to launch an updated version of UNCTAD’s Reform Package for the International Investment Regime. Some 150 countries have designed or redesigned their investment laws and treaty clauses using these policy tools to date.

We support the strategies and programmes of countries – Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in particular – to promote investment into areas where the need is greatest, reducing “inequality within and among nations” (Goal 10) by providing extensive advisory services, including capacity-building workshops, to investment promotion agencies and other institutions. The programme responds to Target 5 of Goal 17 to “adopt and implement investment promotion regimes” for LDCs.

In May, the programme held its third Regional Seminar on the Promotion of Bankable Sustainable Development Goal Projects in Bangkok, Thailand, focusing on assisting investment promotion agencies in Asia.

At the World Investment Forum in October, we organized a workshop with the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies to provide guidance on how to better target and facilitate investment in sustainable development projects, while attendees of an Investment Promotion Conference explored ways in which bankable projects can be prepared, promoted and financed.

We also hosted the annual Investment Promotion Awards at the World Investment Forum to recognize best-in-class agencies in their efforts to promote investment in sustainable development. Bahrain, India, Lesotho and South Africa were among the winners.

Trade in biodiversity – known as BioTrade – can generate a variety of socio-economic benefits for communities that collect, hunt or farm unique plants and animals in sustainable ways. The SECO-funded Global BioTrade Programme: Linking trade, environment and sustainable development focuses on building partnerships in providing stakeholders with the ability to seize and capitalize on trade opportunities from linking biodiversity and sustainable development.

This work links the trade-related targets of Goal 17 with the nature-related targets of Goals 13 (climate change), 14 (life under water) and 15 (life on land).

In 2018, we worked closely with the secretariats of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), International Trade Centre (ITC), the Development Bank of Latin America, Helvetas, Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO), the ABS Capacity Development Initiative, PhytoTrade Africa, Union for Ethical BioTrade, and BioTrade focal points in the Andean, Mekong and Southern African sub-regions, among others.

UNCTAD’s sustainable agriculture programme leverages our expertise in non-tariff measures, voluntary sustainability standards, the trade-agriculture-gender nexus, biofuels and renewable energy, and pro-poor structural rural diversification through trade. It encompasses a scaling-up process to deliver multiplier effects on a larger scale, contributing to Goal 17 by mobilizing the synergy of the expertise from within UNCTAD, and in such partners as UN economic commissions, ITC and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The link between rising prosperity and market competitiveness is well established, and we work with developing countries to help them ensure that commercial playing fields are level. Contesting market openness and elevating standards is likewise enabled by effective consumer protection regimes.

This work contributes to economic growth as envisioned by Goal 8, but also to the strengthening of systems, partnerships and means of delivery seen in Goal 17.

In 2018, we participated in discussions with senior government officials for the launch of a new competition authority in Cape Verde and conducted training workshops for the staff of the Fair Competition Commissions of both mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

We also enhanced cooperation with the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the UN Industrial Development Organization to provide technical assistance and capacity building programmes on consumer protection for the Economic Community of West African States.

The principle that online consumers should enjoy a level of protection equivalent to offline consumers, enshrined in the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, was explored by global experts at meetings in July and December in Geneva.

Partners in our consumer protection work in 2018 included the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network, the European Commission – working on product safety – and explored joint work opportunities with the International Standards Organization and the Organization of American States.

In the field of competition law, UNCTAD partnered with the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, and its counterpart for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and continued our engagement with the World Bank Group.

In November, together with Egypt’s Competition Authority, we opened a Regional Training Centre for Competition in Cairo. The centre held its first set of training courses on international competition law and compliance before the end of the year.

In June, UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi told Latin American consumer protection and competition agencies meeting in Santo Domingo that the best way to shield people and markets from possible abuses of power by digital giants, such as Facebook and Amazon, was to band together. The agencies were in the Dominican capital for the annual conference of COMPAL, an UNCTAD programme funded by the Swiss government that works with 17 countries in the region to help strengthen consumer protection and competition policies.

We continued to provide capacity-building technical assistance with regard to services, trade and development, including conducting services policy reviews for the Economic Community of West African States and Paraguay, as well as training in services-related trade negotiations at regional and bilateral levels for:

• African Continental Free Trade Area;
• Tripartite free trade agreement (East African Community-Southern African Development Community-Southern African Customs Union);
• Ukraine-Canada free trade agreement on services;
• State of Palestine-Arab Agreement on Services countries;

As part of our work in 2018 to help Least Developed Countries (LDCs) double their share of global exports by 2020 as specified by Target 11 of Goal 17, we conducted case-studies for Cambodia, Nepal, Senegal and Zambia on the World Trade Organization’s waiver for LDCs to promote their services exports through preferential treatment, and organized a workshop in March.

In October, we also held our first Commercial Diplomacy Training Workshop in Luanda, Angola, as part of our Train for Trade II project under the Joint European Union-UNCTAD Program of Support for Angola, with a focus on Angola’s regional trade integration.

We expanded our technical assistance for regional integration to Arab countries under the Pan-Arabic Free Trade Area (PAFTA) and the future Arab Customs Union by contributing substantive expertise to the joint training programme of League of Arab States and UN Development Programme Regional Office of Arab States.

The informal thematic consultation “South-South Cooperation for Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A Trade and Development Perspective” held in November underlined the growing importance of South-South trade cooperation to meet development objectives.

Our work for 20 countries on their accession to the World Trade Organization, including LDCs currently negotiating or preparing their accession process as well as to states in post-accession phase, continued apace in 2018. In November, we undertook an advisory mission to Uzbekistan to assist the government in the next phase of its WTO accession negotiations.

These activities contributed to Target 10 of Goal 17 to “promote a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization” and other economic integration and growth objectives.

The UNCTAD Technology and Innovation Report 2018 presented new thinking about how global partnerships can ensure that frontier technologies hasten the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and not widen gaps between and within countries.

The analysis informed our policy-oriented work presented at such forums in 2018 as the UN’s Inter-Agency Task Force report on Financing for Development, a paper for the UN’s High-Level Committee on Programmes on Artificial Intelligence and a dedicated report for the G77 group of developing countries.

The president of the 73rd Session of the UN General-Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces said that the report had “put people back at the centre of the debate on the impact of rapid technological change.”

This and other UNCTAD work contributed to Target 6 of Goal 17 to “enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level.”

UNCTAD’s role as the secretariat of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD), which meets each May, means it plays an essential role in many UN processes dealing with the technological future of our world.

The fast development of the digital economy and the shift towards online economic activities has transformational impacts on production, consumption and trade patterns. However, since the speed of digital transformations differs, and given significant digital divides, developing countries face both opportunities and risks.

The impacts depend on the readiness of countries, enterprises and people to take advantage of digitalization as well as on the regulatory frameworks for the digital economy.

Against this background, 14 visionary partners came together during UNCTAD’s 14th Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in 2016 to launch the eTrade for all initiative as a concrete example of how the international community, in partnership with the private sector and other stakeholders can join forces to help ensure that no one is left behind in e-commerce and the digital economy.

In 2018, the eTrade for all community reached 30 members – with the Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) as its newest member – all committed to narrowing the digital gaps between and within developed and developing countries alike. Its online platform, etradeforall.org, is used by almost 20,000 visitors, of which 40% from developing countries. It offers a gateway for those in need of technical assistance to find those who will be able to assist them.

The eTrade for all initiative has been of tremendous value for the successful organization of the global eCommerce Week which has become the leading global forum where public and private stakeholders, as well as civil society, can engage in a conversation about the development implications of the digital economy.

In 2018, the 4th e-Commerce Week (on “Development Dimensions of Digital Platforms”) attracted almost 1,200 registered participants from 113 countries – including 26 Least Developed Countries – contributing to more than 60 sessions. We organized the event in concert with the second session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on e-Commerce and the Digital Economy, which was attended by 103 countries, including 23 Least Developed Countries and 182 private sector companies.

The extensive and growing recognition of eCommerce Week prompted UNCTAD to partner with the African Union, the European Union and eTrade for all partners to organize the first eCommerce Week in Africa (on "Empowering African Economies in the Digital Era") and hosted by the government of Kenya in December 2018.

More than 2,000 participants from 60 countries registered for the event, which was addressed by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip, several heads of international organizations as well as chief executive officers. Participants included some 800 government officials, 700 business representatives, and more than 250 members of civil society, young people and academia.

The conference issued the Nairobi Manifesto for eCommerce and the Digital Economy, charting a course for African countries with policy recommendations in seven policy areas and two cross-cutting lines of action:

Policy recommendations:

• e-commerce readiness assessment and strategy formulation;
• information and telecommunications technology infrastructure and services;
• payment solutions;
• trade logistics: transport and trade facilitation;
• legal and regulatory frameworks;
• e-commerce skills development;
• access to financing;

Action lines:

• e-commerce and women’s empowerment
• measuring e-commerce and the digital economy.

More information available here: https://unctad.org/en/conferences/Africa-e-week2018/Pages/default.aspx

In the run-up to Africa eCommerce Week, UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi launched the UNCTAD Dialogue on African Development and the Digital Economy, which saw contributions by nine thought leaders on how to ensure that digitalization brings inclusive development to Africa rather than widening divides.

Long waiting times at borders, inappropriate fees, cumbersome formalities, and inadequate or unclear rules and regulations, can all become severe obstacles to trade, and adversely affect investment, employment and trade-led development. However, we assist developing countries in identifying their particular trade facilitation needs and priorities and help them programme the implementation of specific improvements.

In 2018, our work in support of national trade facilitation committees (NTFCs) continued with the delivery of national training workshops throughout the year and concluded by holding the First African Forum for NTFCs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November.

Our work supporting NTFCs directly supports compliance with Article 23.2 of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade Facilitation, as well as Target 17 of Goal 17 on “effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships.”

Since the launch of our Empowerment Programme for National Trade Facilitation Committees in 2016, UNCTAD has been providing extensive support to the NTFCs of 22 countries and is planning to do so at least another 13 states.

Our work reached more than 1,800 trade facilitation stakeholders (one-third of them women), and surveys revealed that 93% of beneficiaries said that the programme had helped them improve their knowledge of trade facilitation and 82% of them felt in a better position to assume their roles as members of their national trade facilitation committee.

In 2018, we contributed to collaborative initiatives for the effective implementation of international agreements and outcomes in the field of transport, infrastructure and logistics, highlighting in particular our recent work on climate change impacts and adaptation for transport infrastructure, notably a project on Climate change impacts and adaptation for key coastal transport infrastructure in the Caribbean.

This work ties the climate change action aims of Goal 13 and the trade-boosting and partnership objectives of Goal 17.

This project benefited from extensive interdisciplinary and interagency cooperation, including with UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, UN Development Programme, UN Environment, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, as well as the European Commission Joint Research Centre (Ispra, Italy) and international and regional experts.

We co-organized and contributed to events on sustainable transport, international shipping, climate resilience and sustainability, and ocean-related issues, organized in the context of the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 24), in Katowice, Poland.

In 2018, UNCTAD contributed significantly to advancing the sustainable transport agenda by, among other actions, concluded three Memoranda of Understanding:

• with the Islamic Development Bank for commercializing and managing the Trans-Saharan Road Corridor linking Algeria, Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Tunisia.
• with the Korea Maritime Institute setting the collaboration framework for the development of a Port Service Quality Indicator.
• with Natural Resources Canada to share information and develop capacity building projects that promote energy efficiency in the transport of goods and people in developing countries.

In 2018 all UN agencies with a transport mandate nominated UNCTAD to represent them at deliberations under the global Sustainable Mobility For All (SuM4All) Initiative cementing our role as a global key player in sustainable transport and development.

Our extensive TrainForTrade programme supports Target 9 of Goal 17 on enhancing “international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation.”

An integral part of every TrainForTrade project is its online learning platform adapted for each course. It provides a forum where international and regional stakeholders can interact and remain engaged even after the end of the project cycle.

In 2018, we continued our P166 courses on Key Issues on the International Economic Agenda named for Paragraph 166 of the Bangkok Plan of Action adopted by UNCTAD member States in 2000 requesting regular training courses for policymakers

In 2018, we worked with the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the UN Economic Commission for Western Asia, in addition to several permanent missions in Geneva, government agencies, and academic institutions.

For instance, we supported the University of Belgrade to deliver the 39th regional course for Eastern Europe and the 40th regional course for Arab economies with the Institute of Diplomatic Studies.

A similar model for partnerships underpins other regional courses in Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean and Asia and the Pacific. These partnerships help enable government officials to forge and implement policies for economic growth and sustainable development.

As a custodian of several statistical indicators attached to the Sustainable Development Goals, our world-leading statistical section continued to provide information to benchmark progress on 2030 Agenda targets and worked to develop new concepts for indicators where frameworks do not yet exist.

Our trade Sustainable Development Goal indicators are compiled in cooperation with the World Trade Organization and the International Trade Centre and address essential elements of Goal 17 dealing with fair and equitable trade.

Throughout 2018, we worked to make our statistics more accessible and user-friendly, including by revamping our annual statistical handbook and launching an interactive e-handbook. We also made infographics and data visualization/exploration tools available to more people.

This work helps build a solid statistical basis on which policymakers in developing countries can adopt appropriate policies necessary for the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It helps meet the Target 19 of Goal 17, the final target of the agenda, to “develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product, and support statistical capacity-building in developing countries” by 2030.

We assist the 47 most-disadvantaged countries – from Afghanistan to Zambia – classified as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to achieve economic and social progress, graduate from this category and reduce inequality between countries.

In April 2018, UNCTAD delivered a course called “Assessing the Progress of LDCs towards the Sustainable Development Goals” to 53 officials from Least Developed Countries, which also included training on LDC graduation. Participants became better aware of the topic and more equipped to take the policy measures needed to smooth the path toward graduation – which can, while beneficial in the long run, result in the loss of preferential trade and assistance terms with other countries.

Four Least Developed Countries – Bhutan, Kiribati, São Tomé and Principe and Solomon Islands – were recommended for graduation by the United Nations Committee for Development Policy (CDP) in 2018 thanks to increasing national earning power as well as access to better health care and education. The CDP sends its recommendations to the UN Economic and Social Council for endorsement, which then refers its decision to the UN General Assembly. Vanuatu and Angola are currently scheduled for graduation in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

While LDCs have many challenges in common, UNCTAD underlines that there is no single recipe for success, with governments needing to take a pragmatic approach that involves a combination of policy measures tailored to national conditions.

In 2018, we released a compendium, Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), that synthesizes nearly 15 years of UNCTAD research and policy options in a single resource that links potential development objectives with concrete steps and practical actions to achieve specific targets of the 2030 Agenda.

The UNCTAD World Investment Report contributes to Target B of Goal 10 to “encourage official development assistance and financial flows, including foreign direct investment, to States where the need is greatest, in particular, least developed countries, African countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries, in accordance with their national plans and programmes.”

The 2018 report, dedicated to investment and new industrial policy, reported that 100 countries had adopted industrial development strategies in recent years in response to the opportunities and challenges of the new industrial revolution. The report presented options for investment policy tools in this new environment.

As well as contributing to Goal 10, the report helps countries to Target A of Goal 1 to reduce poverty by ensuring “significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular LDCs, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions.”

The 2018 report was downloaded more than 250,000 times in 202 countries and territories and was cited in more than 1,800 news articles and 4,000 academic papers.

Launched in 2009, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSE) aligns capital market signals with public policy goals for sustainable development. The SSE promotes responsible investment in sustainable development and advances corporate performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues through research, consensus-building and technical assistance.

The SSE contributes to Target 5 of Goal 10 to “improve the regulation and monitoring of global financial markets and institutions and strengthen the implementation of such regulations.”

As well as Goal 10, the SSE contributes to Target 6 of Goal 12 aiming to “encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.”

By 2018, membership of the programme had grown to 94 stock exchanges – representing $88 trillion in market capitalization from over 52,000 listed companies – significantly enhancing the initiative’s ability to advance the 2030 Agenda.

In 2018, SSE’s flagship biennial event – the SSE Global Dialogue – brought together a unique global gathering of market leaders at the World Investment Forum in October to analyze, promote and foster communication of stock exchanges’ sustainability initiatives.

We launched a handbook on How Securities Regulators Can Support the Sustainable Development Goals – as well as a global ranking to rate capital markets’ transparency on ESG – at the event which we held in partnership with the World Federation of Exchanges.

In July, we launched a Spanish-language Action Plan on Green Finance in Latin America in partnership with Mexican and Argentinian stock exchanges at an event to coincide with the G20 meetings in Buenos Aires.

UNCTAD’s programme on trade-led sustainable agriculture contributes to the equitable world foreseen in Goal 10 by targeting vulnerable groups that work the land in developing countries, especially women. It also contributes to food security targets in Goal 2 on ending hunger and other farming-linked objectives of the 2030 Agenda.

The 2017–2019 programme operates in Guatemala, Malawi and Vanuatu and leverages UNCTAD expertise in non-tariff measures, voluntary sustainability standards, the trade-agriculture-gender nexus, biofuels and renewable energy, and pro-poor structural rural diversification through trade.

The programme aims to integrate vulnerable groups dependent on agriculture into global value chains, leading to new commercialization and diversification opportunities.

Meanwhile, our extensive work in 2018 on the trade, services and the economic effects of intra-African and other migration flows contributed to the preparation and consultations for the Global Compact for Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration adopted in December in Marrakech, Morocco.

This work helps countries to meet Target 2 of Goal 10 to empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all by 2030 – irrespective of race, ethnicity, or origin.

The inclusive and equitable objectives of Goal 10 encompass our work to protect and empower consumers and in particular vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers.

Discussion topics at the 2018 session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection in July included consumer product safety which, while essential for the health and wellbeing of consumers, can often be prohibitively costly in both developing and developed countries.

We created a working group to enable participants to share knowledge on accountability and transparency, stakeholder engagement in policymaking, international cooperation and coordinated actions on consumer product safety.

Useful consumer protection frameworks require dispute resolution and redress, as specified in the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection, so developing and developed countries are exploring, with the support of UNCTAD, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to make it easier for consumers to get access to justice, especially in the context of the worldwide rise of e-commerce.

As well as this work contributing to Goal 10, keynote speaker Sothi Rachagan, a scholar from the Nilai University of Malaysia, connected consumer empowerment to Goal 16 on peace, justice and effective, accountable and inclusive institutions.

UNCTAD’s consumer empowerment work also covers financial literacy and inclusion, the role of financial regulators and consumer protection agencies, responsible business conduct, the security of online and mobile payments, and complaints handling and consumer redress.

In 2018, we presented our expertise on these issues at events in India in March (Financial Consumer Protection in the Digital Market Place) and the Russian Federation in September (International Conference on Best Practices for Financial Consumer Protection: Regulation and Cooperation in the Digital Economy), and other forums.

Ahead of the 2018 session of the UN Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation for Development in May, UNCTAD prepared an issues paper on how rapid technological change exacerbates or mitigates inequality between and within countries, in line with the objectives on Goal 10.

The paper included analysis of how the potential impacts on inequality differ among technological eras, are mutually influenced by the convergence of digitally-enabled technologies and are mediated by rates of technological diffusion. The paper also how rapid technological change could alter trade and investment patterns, ultimately reshoring globalized activities back to countries that can automate specific processes.

One driver of technology inequality is a skills gap. In 2018, our TrainForTrade Development Account project on Leapfrogging skills development in e-Commerce in South-East Asia addressed this by undertaking a needs assessment mission to the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore, with representatives from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and UN Commission on International Trade Law, in July.

In Geneva in September, we held a session to define the objectives and contents of a curriculum on policymaking for digital identities, with experts from the World Bank Group, the World Economic Forum, the Republic of Estonia, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, Access Now, and the University of Lausanne. We plan to deliver the training package to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2019.

We continued to assist Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe to get more out of their cotton crops as part of our ongoing support commodity-exporting developing countries to add value to raw materials and boost domestic earnings (Target B of Goal 9).

In 2018, we helped these countries to draft profiles for attractive investment opportunities in processing, for example, surgical cotton wool, feed for chicken and fish, as well as environmentally friendly biomass briquettes and pellets – all of which are derived from different parts of the cotton plant. These commercial initiatives can create new jobs and income opportunities in the cotton sector, especially for farmers, women and entrepreneurs.

Also, in 2018 we produced a groundbreaking report examining the economic, social and environmental relevance of gum Arabic, an essential but sometimes overlooked agricultural commodity, at the request of several member states in the Sahel region of Africa.

Steeped in legend and used primarily by the food industry, gum arabic has the power to drive sustainable development in the African nations that produce it, some of them the poorest countries in the world.

The UNCTAD report showed that gum arabic has the potential to generate foreign exchange, promote sustainable agriculture and forestry, ensure food security and combat desertification and climate change.

Following the publication of the report, the Geneva-based representatives of Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and the United Republic of Tanzania expressed support for one of its key recommendations: the creation of an association of gum arabic producing countries in Africa. Altogether, participants agreed on nine concrete proposals emanating from the presentations and discussions.

To translate UNCTAD research and the outcomes of its dialogue with member states into results in the field, we prepared a project proposal for 2019–2021 on strengthening capacities to improve value added in the gum arabic sector in African economies to be funded by China’s South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund.

The goal is to identify and implement coherent, evidence-based and inclusive policies aimed at getting more value from gum arabic, boosting profits for smallholder farmers, achieving gender equality in the sector, and mitigating and adapting to climate change.

As well as addressing Target B of Goal 9, the gum arabic project contributes to attaining Goals 1, 5, 8, 10, 13 and 15 of the 2030 Agenda.

We are helping the countries of the Southern Africa Development Community to identify regional value chains and opportunities for industrial policy coordination with the cooperation of several governments and partners at the OECD Development Centre, UN Industrial Development Organization and UN Economic Commission for Africa.

The objective of the project is to support and help the implementation of the Southern Africa Development Community’s common industrial strategy, which aims at promoting the development of an integrated industrial base by exploiting regional synergies in value-added production and enhancing export competitiveness.

The project entered its second phase in 2018, featuring a series of capacity building workshops for policymakers tailored to the specific needs of target economies. The first was held in Mozambique and Zambia, and similar events are set to follow in Mauritius and Tanzania.

Entrepreneurs are significant agents of innovation in economically productive and managerial processes. Their innovative activity is necessary for all countries, including the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

However dynamic, innovative and growth-oriented firms are rare in the Least Developed Countries. The UNCTAD Least Developed Countries Report 2018: Entrepreneurship for Structural Transformation: Beyond Business as Usual showed that these countries’ public policies need to support and nurture such firms to strengthen innovation and bring about modernization and economic upgrading. Such structural transformation, in turn, is a precondition for these countries to meet the objectives of Goal 9 and, indeed, all Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2018, we hosted on an event communications infrastructure during Africa E-Commerce Week in December which looked at boosting financial inclusion through mobile money. The event contributed to Target C of Goal 9 to “significantly increase access to information and communications technology.” It also meets Target 10 of Goal 8 to expand access to banking.

Mobile money now extends far beyond its initial offering and includes mobile credit, insurance, cross-border remittances, bill payments, airtime top-ups, and savings, reflecting the expansion and diversification of the mobile money market in recent years. The session was moderated by Julie Gichuru and coordinated by the Universal Postal Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Our Technology and Innovation Report 2018: Harnessing Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development proposes strategies and actions to make technology an effective means of implementation of the common development agenda. The report suggests policies to help people navigate the transition period that lies ahead, supporting the building of digital capabilities, especially for women and girls; and ensuring that sustained international collaboration closes the multiple gaps in technological advancement that separate developed and developing countries.

Our work on this goal considered efforts in several areas. We contributed to raising awareness concerning science, technology and development in high-level intergovernmental meetings such as the UN Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly, the High-Level Political Forum, and the Third Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, among others.

The Commission on Science and Technology for Development provides the United Nations General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council with high-level advice on science and technology issues and offers a unique platform for policymakers to learn about future trends and cutting-edge solutions. We provided substantive support to enable discussion of two priority themes at the commission’s 21st session in 2018:

• The role of science, technology and innovation in increasing the share of renewable energy substantially by 2030
• Building digital competencies to benefit from existing and emerging technologies, with a particular focus on gender and youth dimensions

The commission also examined the progress on the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) outcomes. In July, the Economic and Social Council adopted the two draft recommendations agreed by the commission in May.

Distinguished scholars Nobel Prize-winning chemistry Professor Jacques Dubochet and mathematician Sir Roger Penrose held a dialogue on recent trends and their implications for the future of the world, stressing the need for ethics and caution in scientific innovation.

Through its institutional support to the commission, UNCTAD is at the heart of multilateral and international efforts to support domestic technology development, research and innovation in developing countries as outlined by Target B of Goal 9.

In July, participants of the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Investment, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Productive Capacity-building and Sustainable Development, held by UNCTAD in Geneva, addressed ways to promote effective national and international policies and methodologies, closing technology gaps, and scaling up capacity-building to achieve the 2030 Agenda.

The meeting considered ways to involve new actors and assimilate broader concepts of innovation systems and deploy alternative approaches to innovation, such as digitally enabled innovation and grass-roots innovation.

Also, the event provided a platform for stakeholders to benefit from experiences and lessons learned from international partnerships for technological learning and development, to promote access to technologies by developing countries.

Target 1 of Goal 9 calls for “quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure,” to support economic development and human well-being – but the impact of climate change makes this objective especially urgent for small islands that depend on ports and airports for their survival.

In 2018 we completed our Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation for Coastal Transport Infrastructure in the Caribbean technical cooperation project, featuring substantive findings and outputs, including state-of-the-art flood maps, and innovative methodological approaches validated by scientific peer review.

The project was undertaken in collaboration with a range of partners, including UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, UN Development Programme, UN Environment, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, as well as the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and international and regional academic experts,

The project successfully strengthened the capacity of policy makers, transport planners and transport infrastructure managers in small island developing States (SIDS) to:

• understand climate change impacts on coastal transport infrastructure, particularly seaports and airports;
• take appropriate adaptation response measures.

Outcomes include assessment of potential vulnerabilities to climate variability and change in Jamaica and Saint Lucia, focusing on potential operational disruptions and marine inundation risk to coastal international airports and seaports as well as a transferable methodology to assist in adaptation planning.

Some of the main substantive findings and technical details of the methodology developed under the project were presented in a scientific paper that was referred to in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s assessment of Impacts of 1.5 ºC global warming on natural and human systems.

As well as Target 1 of Goal 9, his work also contributes directly to Target 5 of Goal 1 on building the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events, and Goal 13 on climate change.

By promoting affordable, resilient, reliable, sustainable transport infrastructure and services, UNCTAD’s work facilitates access to transport and reduces trade logistics inefficiencies that undermine trade activities including for small scale business and women traders. It also promotes new job and business opportunities, including for women. Such access is also helping reduce inequalities by creating employment and revenue, closing the poverty gap and promoting more inclusive growth.

Our work on infrastructure is underpinned by the TrainForTrade Port Management Programme, which supports port communities in developing countries in their quest to manage ports efficiently and competitively. The programme creates port networks bringing together public, private and international entities to increase trade flows and foster economic development. The aim is to share knowledge and expertise between port operators and strengthen talent management and human resources development in port communities.

TrainForTrade Port Management Programme facts:

• Four port networks (Portuguese, Spanish, French and English-speaking)
• Advisory support and services involving 34 countries and over 200 port community entities
• 3,557 port managers trained
• 110 national training and capacity-building cycles
• 77 workshops for the training of trainers
• 1,515 UNCTAD port certificates delivered
• 30 South-South exchange of trainers and experts in 2018

In 2018, senior port managers from developing countries passed on their expertise to colleagues met Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins in Dublin, Ireland, in June during a week-long Training of Trainers workshop. 

Mr. Higgins welcomed the managers from ports in Indonesia, Ghana, Malaysia, Nigeria, and the Philippines which are members of the English-speaking network of the Port Managers programme. Prospective members from Serbia and a former member from Namibia were also present.

"As an island nation, almost uniquely dependent on international trade, we in Ireland know and value the importance of our ports, and all who work there," Mr. Higgins said during a reception at Áras an Uachtaráin, his official residence.

“I am so very proud that our ports here in Ireland and Irish Aid, our overseas development assistance programme, have been participating with the English-speaking network for eleven years now, and that they have agreed to continue for four more years,” Mr. Higgins said.

In May, the Economic Development in Africa Report 2018: Migration for Structural Transformation focused on intra-African migration as a catalyst for economic growth and structural transformation. The report identifies critical actions that countries can take at national, regional and continental levels to overcome barriers to intra-African mobility. Safe and orderly migration contributes to economic growth and achieving the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and Africa’s Agenda 2063.

As well as Goal 8, the report will also help countries to address Goals 1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 16 and 17.

Economic growth and decent jobs are most urgently needed in the Least Developed Countries which as well as being poor have the fastest growing populations. In 2018, we published an action-oriented, user-friendly and visually-enhanced tool for the use of policymakers in LDCs and their development partners – Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the Least Developed Countries: A Compendium of Policy Options. The compendium presents the major policy recommendations to accelerate economic growth, job creation and structural transformation.

A necessary condition for economic growth and the widespread creation of jobs in LDCs is the operation of a balanced mix of enterprises of all sizes, reported our Least Developed Countries Report 2018: Entrepreneurship for Structural Transformation: Beyond Business as Usual. Large firms have a longer lifespan and contribute longer to economic growth, but micro enterprises and small firms are responsible for more jobs LDCs. The massive creation of decent jobs, in turn, offers the only long-term solution for the LDCs to eradicate poverty as foreseen in Goal 1. The report demonstrates that active entrepreneurship policies that are coherent with development and industrial policies lead to the creation of a balanced mix of enterprises in LDCs and reaching Goal 8.

In 2018, we continued our work to build the capacities of selected LDCs and landlocked developing countries to upgrade and diversify their fisheries exports.

Upgrading the sector and increasing fisheries exports provides significant opportunities for developing countries to generate growth and employment, in line with Goal 8. Improved management of the fisheries sector also supports Goals 9, 12, 14, 17 and 10.

We aim to upgrade the technical knowledge and expertise in Least Developed Countries to overcome challenges posed by weak supply capacities in the fishery sector and complex international food safety and quality standards on fish exports. We established two Regional Centers of Excellence for fisheries sector development, in Africa and Asia, which will offer regular training courses for fisheries policymakers and practitioners.

We developed a curriculum on fisheries development, drawing on partnerships the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the Royal Tropical Institute of the Netherlands (KIT), and Nha Trang University, Vietnam.

The modules include the environmental, social and economic role of the fisheries sector; the role of food safety and quality standards; seafood technology and safety; and the opportunities and challenges of standards certification. The first training course was held at the Regional Centre of Excellence at Nha Trang University in Vietnam in October–November 2018. The course was attended by 55 participants from 15 countries (including 11 Least Developed Countries).

Together with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), we organized a brainstorming meeting on Impact Financing in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector in Structurally Weak and Vulnerable Economies, in London, United Kingdom, in November. The meeting brought together representatives of development finance institutions, impact investors and environmental labeling organizations to brainstorm on how to attract more impact investment to the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Least Developed Countries.

We have developed measurable indices of productive capacities in landlocked developing countries, a crucial condition for economic diversification and sustainable economic growth. This work aims to assist landlocked developing counties in devising evidence-based development strategies.

In 2018, we organized national workshops in Rwanda in July and in August in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic where experts had the opportunity to review the Productive Capacities Indices and compare results with a qualitative assessment. The experts also received training in the crucial role of productive capacities in sustainable development, and in identifying national priorities for policymaking.

We also organized a regional workshop on Productive Capacities, Export Diversification and Structural Transformation attended by 42 participants from eight landlocked countries in Africa, including 25 women, in Botswana in November.

In April, together with the European Union, we launched our joint programme of support for Angola – also known as Train For Trade II – in Luanda. The project cuts across several of our work programmes and addresses several Sustainable Development Goals, including Goals 1, 8, 9, 12 and 17.

During 2018, UNCTAD conducted 15 activities, consisting of training workshops, study tours and train-the-trainer workshops on subjects as diverse as green exports, entrepreneurship, trade facilitation, and commercial diplomacy. By December 2018, UNCTAD had trained more than 304 stakeholders and key non-oil sector export items had been identified, including timber, honey, fisheries, and coffee.

To address the special problems of burgeoning youth unemployment in Africa, we collaborated with the African Capacity Building Foundation to organize the 5th Africa Think Tank Summit in Accra, Ghana, in April 2018, with the theme: “Tackling Africa’s Youth Unemployment Challenge: Innovative Solutions from Think Tanks.”

The summit addressed how to design strategies to enhance the contribution of export diversification to employment creation in Africa, particularly in the Least Developed Countries. Participants of the meeting concluded that it is important for governments to provide employment services, skills development and targeted labour-market training, with a special emphasis on technical and vocational education to ensure that export diversification contributes to employment creation. The summit led to the adoption of a communique by African think tanks to be presented to African Union leaders.

We assist developing countries in promoting the development of businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises so that they can grow and compete in the global economy. Multiple factors are at play, including the ability of enterprises to attract investment and participate in mutually beneficial business linkages with transnational corporations.

With its activities of policy guidance, technical assistance and on-the-ground entrepreneurship training, our Enterprise Development work supports the delivery of Target 3 of Goal 8 to “promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalisation and growth of micro-small-and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services.”

Our work was recognized with the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a resolution on entrepreneurship for sustainable development (A/C.2/73/L.35/Rev.1) in November 2018, which singled out UNCTAD’s Empretec entrepreneurship programme for its best-practice behavioural approach to training.

Our existing Entrepreneurship Policy Framework (EPF) continued to be leveraged for the development of targeted national entrepreneurship strategies, and in 2018 Tanzania launched its Inclusive National Entrepreneurship Strategy and action plan based on the framework. We are now assisting Ethiopia – the seventh country to use the EPF as a base – to develop a national enterprise strategy.

In 2018, together with the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), we published a Policy Guide on Entrepreneurship for Migrants and Refugees, which takes the EPF as its departure point. The guide offers practical guidance for hosting countries, and development and humanitarian partners, on how to best ensure that refugees and migrants use their skills and abilities to build their livelihoods while contributing to host communities and economies.

Empretec, UNCTAD’s grassroots entrepreneurial training programme, has in the 30 years since its launch in 1988 established centres in 40 countries, training more than 450,000 entrepreneurs, helping them to found or expand businesses and create many hundreds of thousands of jobs.

The Empretec Global Summit 2018, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey in April, gathered graduates of the programme to provide them with new opportunities and incentives to internationalize, improve productivity, create cross-border business-to-business links, identify potential funding sources and forge new partnerships.

The programme also presented the Empretec Women in Business Awards at the World Investment Forum 2018 as an acknowledgment of the great achievements of women entrepreneurs trained through the programme. In doing so, as well as Goal 8, the programme contributes to Goal 5 on reaching gender equality.

Our business facilitation programme has since 2005 deployed a series of web-based e-government systems – eRegulation, eRegistration and Trade Portals – to help countries improve their business climate through transparency, simplification and reduction of business creation and operational requirements. These systems make it easier access to information and streamline administrative procedures, promoting entrepreneurship as entreated by Target 3 of Goal 8.

Our business facilitation work also supports Target 5 of Goal 16 “to substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms” and Target 6 of Goal 16 to “develop effective, accountable and transparency institution at all levels.”

In 2018, we rolled out new iterations including the Rwanda Trade Portal to support trade operations through transparency and administrative streamlining, an online investment guide for the Republic of the Congo, and a website on the procedures required for Dakar-Bamako Corridor connecting Senegal and Mali in West Africa.

As a result of such implementations, so far 68 systems have been implemented in 37 countries, with 2,993 procedures documented online, producing an 80% reduction of business registration steps, forms and documents.

Functioning markets boost economic growth, and we assist developing countries in improving and strengthening competition and consumer protection law enforcement capacities to fight anti-competitive and unfair commercial practices.

In 2018, we concluded the third edition of our programme on competition and consumer protection in Latin America, COMPAL, which includes 17 countries and was funded by Switzerland.

Our MENA programme promoting regional integration through improved competition and consumer policies in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and the State of Palestine, funded by Sweden, opened a training centre in Cairo, Egypt.

The strengthening of competition and consumer protection policies was intensively pursued through the adoption and revision of legal frameworks and awareness-raising activities addressed to governments, parliaments and the private sector for the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, with the addition of Sao Tome and Principe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and funded by the European Union.

In July, the annual meeting of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts (IGE) on Competition Law and Policy undertook a voluntary peer review of Botswana’s competition law and policy – ten years after the country adopted its competition law – in which UNCTAD provided regular technical cooperation and capacity building services.

In 2018, we continued to assist countries with the formulation and implementation of policies and accompanying measures that favour women’s social and economic empowerment. We carried out our capacity building, analytical and policy advocacy activities aimed at increasing understanding of the nexus where trade and gender policies meet.

Target 5 of Goal 8 calls for full and productive employment and decent work for all women (and men) but trade patterns often disadvantage women in ways that can be tackled with informed policymaking.

Three iterations of UNCTAD’s online courses on trade and gender were delivered in 2018 targeting a broad range of stakeholders – from developing and Least Developed Countries, countries with economies in transition, and from other international organizations.

We worked with regional partners such as TradeMark East Africa to analyze the impact of regional integration in the East African Community on women’s wellbeing, and developed tools to influence gender-sensitive policymaking.

We continued to work with Malawi, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia to leverage informal cross-border trade for women’s empowerment, economic development and regional integration. Through a combination of analytical and capacity-building activities, we are helping to strengthen the capacity of cross-border traders, especially women, to benefit from trade activities and develop their business beyond subsistence.

We also organized a photography exhibition on this work, called “Borderline: Women in Cross-border Trade” in Geneva to coincide with International Women’s Day in March.

In 2018, we worked with nine Pacific Island Countries to analyze the relevance of transparency in international trade for women's economic empowerment as part of an interdivisional project on transparency in trade regulations and facilitation in the PACER Plus trade agreement between Australia, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

As well as Goal 8, our work on trade and gender helps meet the objectives of Goal 5 on gender equality.

Getting more from services trade

With a view to helping Least Developed Countries grow and provide jobs in services trade – as well as double their share of global exports by 2020 (Target 11 of Goal 17) – we compiled country case-studies for Cambodia, Nepal, Senegal and Zambia on the use of the World Trade Organization’s waiver to promote services exports through preferential treatment.

We play a leading role in analyzing the creative industries and providing insight into the global creative economy through our Creative Economy Programme. The programme’s focus is on trade in the creative industries and the role of the creative economy in the growth of developing economies, and UNCTAD’s work has elevated policymaking for the creative economy on the world economic and development agenda.

Our data-driven insights on trade in creative goods and services make a unique contribution to understanding the creative economy as many emerging economies and developing countries seek economic diversification, supporting Target 2 of Goal 8 to “achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification”.

In 2018, we explored the the emerging opportunities at the intersection of the creative and digital economies at the Beijing International Forum on Creative Economy and Summit on Augmented Reality Industry Development that took place at the China Trade in Services Fair in May, and helped Indonesia to hold the World Conference on Creative Economy in Bali in November.

High-quality accounting standards and reporting practice is crucial to cement the credibility of a country’s corporate environment, and critical to attracting investment and promote financial stability. Accountable and transparent institutions also create stability and predictability and prevent illicit flows, minimizing organized crime and terrorism.

With this in mind, UNCTAD’s Accounting Development Tool (ADT) was developed to help build and spread corporate reporting best practice. The ADT is being expanded to reinforce sustainability reporting and integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into corporate reporting.

This work contributes to Target 6 of Goal 12 to “encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle”. It also responds to Target 6 of Goal 16 to “develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.”

The ADT has been rolled out to 14 countries and its impact is complemented by the work of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR), hosted by UNCTAD.

In 2018, efforts were made to further improve environmental, social and governance reporting tools in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. The 35th session of ISAR, which took place during the World Investment Forum in October, saw the release of draft indicators aimed at harmonizing sustainability reporting and the integration of sustainability information into companies’ reporting cycles. These indicators enhance the role of accounting and reporting in assessing the private sector contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and sees the fulfillment of ISAR’s role as custodian of Target 6 of Goal 12.

Other activities in this area of work included a roundtable discussion on measuring the private sectors’ contribution to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and the convening of a Consultative Group on Sustainable Development Goal reporting by companies.

Emerging issues were tackled through a technical workshop on the topic of blockchain, digitalization and digital currencies, and their implications for reporting. We also published essential research on environmental, social and governance reporting.

In 2018, we also recognized the first ISAR Honours, a new award to encourage companies to adopt sustainability practices by raising awareness and facilitating dissemination of national good practice on Sustainable Development Goal reporting by companies.

A wide range of stakeholders was recognized for their work this year. Winners included: WBCSD in partnership with Climate Standards Disclosure Board, Ecodesk; FSR; B3; Sweden’s Ministry for Economy and Finance, France’s Ministry for Financial Markets and Consumer Affairs; UK Green Finance Taskforce; Professor Carol Adams, Durham University Business School, supported by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and Aviva’s World Benchmarking Alliance.

We also implemented a new capacity-building project, the Enabling Policy Frameworks for Enterprise Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goal Reporting in Africa and Latin America with the purpose of strengthening the capacity of governments to measure and monitor the private sector contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Consumers have a fundamental role to play in making the urgently needed changes to consumption and production patterns that underlie Goal 12.

Consumers need to form links and understand how their consumption choices, use and disposal of products and services can reduce their overall impact on the environment. They also need to feel confident that the information they get is both reliable and accurate. Consequently, consumer protection policies – and our work supporting them – are vital.

In 2018, we published a report on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through Consumer Protection, focusing on sustainable consumption and healthcare services. This publication provides essential background for consumer protection agencies and governments of developing countries committed to implementing the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection and follows our Manual on Consumer Protection released in 2017.

On the ground, we assisted the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sao Tome and Principe, to improve consumer protection policies by designing regional guidelines based on the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection.

We also fully participated in discussions on product safety – in particular, the security and data protection for children’s connected products, children's online protection and industry and regulation proposals – at the G20 Consumer Summit in Buenos Aires in May.

Our consumer protection policy expertise contributed to two events in 2018 organized by UN Economic Commission for Europe on sustainable consumption:

• 31st United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) Forum, in Geneva in April – Traceability for Sustainable Value Chains
• UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development side-event in New York in July – Forests and Fashion

Target 3 of Goal 12 aims to reduce food losses along production and supply chains by 2030, and the 6th session of the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Services, Trade and Development, held by UNCTAD in May 2018, examined food-related logistics services.

Experts proposed that countries should take a holistic approach covering different transport modes and supply chain segments in improving integrated logistics performance. Improvements in logistics are essential for reducing delivery times and costs, contributing to the achievement of Goal 12 on food waste.

To promote the sustainable patterns of production foreseen by achieving Goal 12, we work with producers in developing countries to adhere to voluntary sustainability standards, such as organic certification.

“I grow four types of coffee, using only organic fertilizers,” said Champa Vongthajak, a coffee farmer from Phoumakkore in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. “Having our coffee certified organic will be good because more and more foreign buyers want to buy organic coffee.”

Our work on voluntary sustainability standards is getting Champa and other coffee growers in the Lao People's Democratic Republic the help he needs, as well as assisting smallholder coconut producers in Vanuatu and the Philippines. The project helps them improve their green export opportunities via organic certification and to achieve responsible and sustainable production at the country level.

“I sell my coffee at 30,000Kip/kg (US$3.5/kg) today. With an organic certification, it will fetch 50,000Kip/kg (US$5.8/kg),” said Champa. “But getting the certification is not easy. Our farm needs to be inspected several times, I need to fill in lots of papers, and it can cost a lot.”

At the international level, we lead a collaboration framework, the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS), made up of five UN agencies. The work of UNFSS is rooted in the existing mandates and activities of participating agencies. The value of the forum lies in pooling resources, synchronizing efforts and assuring policy coherence, coordination and collaboration.

The UNFSS is coordinated by a steering committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); the International Trade Centre (ITC); the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment); and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Our National Green Export Reviews helped ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns – the objective of Goal 12 – by isolating environmentally friendly export opportunities for developing countries and economies in transition. Commissioned for ten countries to date, National Green Export Reviews have focused on a wide range of green products.

In 2018, they focused on ecotourism and natural soaps in Lebanon; organic mangoes and cashews in Senegal; and organic walnuts, honey and grains in the Republic of Moldova.

National action plans for products are being implemented by national stakeholders to increase employment opportunities and reduce the environmental impacts of production, enhance product quality and value addition, and boost export levels.

Also in 2018 the BioTrade Initiative, which supports the legal trade of native flora and fauna for sustainable economic development, was a featured partner of the International Trade Centre’s annual Trade for Sustainable Development Forum which focused on Goal 12.

The objectives of the forum were to:

• Provide a unique platform to discuss sustainable trade practices and identify innovative best practices - vis-à-vis the implementation of Goal 12;
• Identify challenges and opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) arising from a shift to a greener economy for the implementation of Goal 12;
• Leverage the International Trade Centre’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals through support to SME international competitiveness for inclusive and sustainable growth through value addition, trade, investment and global partnerships.

With interactive sessions, the BioTrade Initiative contributed to an increased understanding of the sustainable production of biodiversity-based products and the sustainable consumption of biodiversity-friendly products in safeguarding the natural environment.

We have taken a leading role in the ongoing push to achieve the pressing trade-related targets of Goal 14:

• 14.4: By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics.
• 14.6: By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies negotiation.
• 14.7: By 2030, increase the economic benefits to small island developing States and Least Developed Countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism.
• 14.B: Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets.

In July 2018, we organized the Second Oceans Forum, a multi-stakeholder platform held in Geneva for dealing expeditiously with these targets, attracting more than 100 participants including many representatives from the private sector. Participants at the forum, which was chaired by Peter Thomson, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Oceans, proposed the following policy recommendations:

• Allow for a better understanding of key trends in trade in seafood and its prospects for developing countries – which posted record fish and seafood exports of $152 billion in 2017.
• Expose delegates to sustainability challenges such as fish subsidies, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, overfishing, overcapacity and ecosystem depletion and lack of cooperation.
• Enrich World Trade Organization discussions on fish subsidies and enable the emergence of a single, complete and non-attributed draft text that includes specific prohibitions on certain forms of fish subsidies, proposals on special and differential treatment and transparency – UNCTAD data has made clear that the world’s top four subsidizing nations provide more subsidies than all other countries put together.
• Contribute to the monitoring and implementation of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Port State Measures agreements in tackling Illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing and support countries in enhancing management plans.
• Provide options and approaches to building a sustainable seafood sector and other marine-products value chains in developing countries.

In his chair’s summary, delivered at the close of the event, Mr. Thomson said the Trade-related Joint Plan of Action that the coalition had proposed would “serve as an important means of implementation to mobilize resources, technical expertise and partnerships”.

Mr. Thomson concluded with a reminder of the importance of the ocean to social, economic and environmental progress.

“In closing, let me remind us again that timely implementation of Targets 4 and 6 of Goal 14 by 2020 is essential to the 2030 Agenda,” Mr. Thomson said. “If the international community fails to meet these targets on time, there is a risk that it affects the integrity of other targets under the Goals. The Second Oceans Forum was an important step in achieving Goal 14.”

UNCTAD’s Oceans Forum has become a unique trade arena in sharing state-of-the-art analysis, country experiences and public-private best practices towards generating policy recommendations and proposing specific actions aligned with the trade-related targets of Goal 14 by building upon existing multilateral agreements and United Nations General Assembly Resolutions.

Our work on the ground in support of Goal 14 includes the UN Development Account Project on Evidence-based and Policy Coherent Oceans Economy and Trade Strategies which was active in 2018 helping more than 100 national stakeholders in Barbados, Belize and Costa Rica obtain, improve, and retain the skills and knowledge they need to identify and assess their oceans-based sectors and develop trade policies and regulations.

In Belize, this work concentrated on the sustainable use of finfish species in the marine fishery, and value addition for lobster and conch in seafood manufacture, while in Costa Rica the focus was on coastal and large-pelagic fishing within and outside its Exclusive Economic Zone.

Launched in 2017, our Blue BioTrade work promotes the socio-economic benefits to communities that trade marine plants and animals, and oceans-based services, in sustainable ways

The Blue BioTrade approach involves working across multiple levels of the value chain to develop sustainable livelihoods, adopt an ecosystem-based management approach, and foster swift adaptation to dynamics markets and changing ecological conditions such as climate change.

This approach could become a significant method of building marine-based value chains including in sectors such as:

• fisheries and aquaculture
• marine-based pharmaceuticals and cosmetics
• marine and coastal tourism
• carbon capture and sequestration

In coming years, we plan to undertake pilot projects in coastal and island developing countries in cooperation with the Development Bank of Latin America and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

We also continued to actively contribute to work under the auspices of the UN-Oceans interagency mechanism, including the development of indicators for Target C of Goal 14 (on the implementation of international legal instruments for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources).

During the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Katowice, Poland in December 2018, we participated in a UN-Oceans side-event on optimizing the integration of ocean-related issues into the Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans central to climate action.

The BioTrade Initiative, its partners and beneficiaries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe have contributed to enhancing environmental, social and economic sustainability through the trade of biodiversity-based goods and services. This work has generated projects that use the surrounding biodiversity, going beyond traditional crops and livestock, to develop and trade value-added products.

BioTrade is also increasing the economic self-reliance and resilience of communities and small businesses, mainstreaming biodiversity and Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) schemes, while safeguarding biodiversity. BioTrade and ABS mechanisms have enabled developing countries in generating economic incentives to safeguard biodiversity, create sustainable livelihoods and foster economic growth.

Our programme on sustainable agriculture contributes to Goal 15 (and Goals 1, 2, 5 and 10) by ensuring that agricultural production best practices take into account food security, climate change, gender equality and inclusiveness in Vanuatu, Guatemala and Malawi.

Together with our partner Helvetas, we have worked with companies, civil society and cooperation agencies in the Mekong Region of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, and Viet Nam, organizing two workshops in June 2018 to enable better coordination among regional technical assistance providers and the beneficiary countries.

In Latin America, we held a national workshop in Lima, organized with the Peruvian government and the Development Bank of Latin America, on coherently implementing the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity and BioTrade.

During the event, we presented our BioTrade and ABS handbook, and model clauses for access contracts for commercial purposes. This handbook has also been translated to Spanish, French and Korean.

One of the main drivers of trade facilitation is transparency and we have contributed to it by building capacity, dialogue and public-private partnerships in National Trade Facilitation Committees, and through Trade Information Portals.

The Trade Information Portal is an IT tool that provides traders with the necessary information on procedures for export, import and transit operations. World Trade Organization members are required by Article 1 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement adopted in 2015 to set up a trade information portal, and our solution is becoming the global gold standard.

We have helped launch portals in three East African Community (EAC) countries: Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Using data from these national portals, the EAC Regional Trade Facilitation Index was launched in Nairobi, Kenya during a Ministerial Retreat on Trade Facilitation organized by UNCTAD and partners in December 2018. The index allows comparison and harmonization of trade procedures among the EAC partner States at regional level and will be hosted at the EAC Secretariat.

In addition to this work in Africa, we are helping the development of national Trade Information Portals in the Pacific region under a Pacer Plus project financed by the Governments of Australia and New Zealand.

Trade Information Portals not only provide information to traders but also help National Trade Facilitation Committees to simplify and streamline trade procedures to reduce time and costs of trade transactions.

In parallel work, the deployment of our ASYCUDA system also contributes to Targets 5 and 6 of Goal 16, combatting bribery at borders and significantly reducing opportunities for corruption.

In 2018, UNCTAD started to analyze more systematically the problem of measuring illicit financial flows (IFFs). IFFs constitute a significant drain on vital and scarce development resources in many developing economies. By diverting resources from social spending and productive investment, they pose a direct threat to sustainable and inclusive development. They could also weaken political and institutional legitimacy and adversely affect overall economic activity. These risks have been recognized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with the reduction of IFFs listed explicitly as a target of Goal 16.

The challenge was that little is known about the magnitude and the channels of IFFs. Although some estimates have been proposed in the literature, there is still no agreed definition or measurement methodology for these flows. This is problematic from a policy perspective because such information would allow policymakers from developing countries to gain knowledge on the size of IFFs, their origins and channels, as well as obtain evidence for targeted and effective policies for curbing these flows.

In close cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), UNCTAD is working on developing a measurement framework for Goal indicator 16.4.1. This is a complex project that involves defining and designing measurement tools to capture both illegal and illicit activities which, by their very nature, are hidden deliberately.

As a co-custodian of the Goal indicator 16.4.1, we are striving to define, estimate and disseminate statistics on IFFs in the context of developing economies in Africa, some of the most affected by this developmental challenge. Through a series of implementation guidelines, pilot activities and technical assistance, by 2020 UNCTAD, UNODC and UNECA will have developed the capacity to measure IFFs in several participating countries in Africa.

The result will be the capacity to more accurately estimate IFFs in participating countries. The lessons learned will inform the national monitoring of IFFs and will guide policy actions in affected countries to curb these flows. As such, it will also increase the likelihood of developing countries achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.