The role of international cooperation and Aid for Trade
Trade, investment, and green industrial policies have an important role to play in helping economies achieve carbon emission reductions set forth in their National Determined Contributions (NDCs) and sustainable development Trade-related policies and measures such as tariffs, market-based mechanisms, subsidies, and technical regulations can facilitate energy transitions, expand the market for carbon-efficient products, and facilitate the phasing out of unsustainable economic activities. However, they can also create trade barriers and impact the competitiveness and sustainable development priorities of economies. Alongside, international cooperation on trade can also facilitate the development, diffusion, affordability, and uptake access to technologies necessary for the net zero transition and climate-resilient development.
The global investment gap for achieving SDGs is estimated to be $4.4 trillion, half of which is required for energy transition. Global unmet demand for trade financing surged to $2.5 trillion annually by 2022 and there remains a huge gap in climate financing for developing economies.
UN Trade and Development's World Investment Report 2023: Investment in Sustainable Energy for All calls for urgent support to developing economies to enable them to attract significantly more investment for their transition to clean energy and to ensure successful implementation paths for NDCs. Alongside, recent UN Trade and Development research identified almost 700 trade-related measures in existing NDCs in a first effort to identify how trade is present in existing national climate plans and its mostly untapped potential as a means of implementation for advancing national climate goals.
Against this backdrop, coherent trade and investment policies are important for economies to design and meet their National Determined Contributions (NDCs) 3.0. More broadly, there is growing recognition of the importance of international cooperation on trade and climate. The Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate, for instance, bringing together over 60 Ministers from a diverse range of economies, has highlighted the importance of supporting developing economies to develop trade and climate strategies and policies that support climate mitigation and adaptation, and fair transitions toward climate-resilient development.
This session will provide an opportunity to explore views from WTO Members on how economies can leverage trade and investment policies – and international cooperation on such policies - to achieve NDCs and how climate objectives can offer new trade and investment opportunities for sustainable development. The discussion will also explore the capacity gaps to be addressed for developing economies to reflect trade, finance and investment considerations, priorities, and policies in their Nationally Determined Contributions 3.0. In this regard, speakers will share their experiences, challenges and priorities in regard to the formulation of trade and climate strategies that support climate-resilient development, and the role of international cooperation and Aid for Trade.
The session will provide an opportunity to discuss UN Trade and Development’s recent research on how trade and investment policies can be leveraged to achieve NDCs 3.0 while contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, the ongoing Action on Climate and Trade (ACT) initiative by the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and the WTO Secretariat will also present a range of trade policy options that can be used by Members to enhance their climate mitigations and adaptation strategies to meet their climate objectives under the Paris Agreement.
Programme
Welcoming remarks
- Mr. Pedro Moreno, Deputy Secretary-General, UN Trade and Development
Moderator
- Ms. Chantal Line Carpentier, Head, Trade, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, UN Trade and Development
Panelists:
- H.E. Mr. Sok Sopheak, Secretary of State of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia
- H.E. Mrs. Pimchanok Pitfield, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Thailand to the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization
- Mr. Matthew Wilson, Ambassador of Barbados to the WTO
- Mr. Jimmy Rantes, Director General, Ministry of Trade and Commerce, Vanuatu
- Ms. Kimberley Botwright, Head of Sustainable Trade, World Economic Forum
Mr. Pedro Manuel Moreno of Spain, is Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD.
He has over 20 years of experience of working for multilateral and intergovernmental organizations in programme, management and strategic positions both in the field and at headquarters.
He was Deputy Secretary-General of the Communication for Development Committee at the Spanish National Commission with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (1999-2004), and for the United Nations Development Programme, at the Country Office in Ecuador and, in New York City, as part of the Human Development Report team, at the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean and at the Executive Office.
In 2014, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Ibero-American Conference in Madrid, where he coordinated key political processes and South-South cooperation projects.
In September 2021, he was named Chief of Staff and Director of the Office of the Secretary-General of UNCTAD.
Chantal Line Carpentier joined DITC, UNCTAD after serving as Chief, UNCTAD New York Office of the Secretary-General, since 2014. She brings to the Branch over 25 years of work experience in International Trade, and Environmental and Agro-Economics.
Prior to working with UNCTAD, she supported the Commission on Sustainable Development and served as Major Groups (of non-State actors) Coordinator for the UN Rio+20 Conference and the SDGs negotiations at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), and supported the sustainable consumption and production and sustainable agriculture negotiations. As Head of the North American Free Trade Agreement Commission for Environmental Cooperations, she lead work on the nexus of environment, economy, and trade. She also served as Agro-environmental policy analyst for Winrock International, and post-Doctoral fellow/Brazil office manager for the International Food Policy Research Institute.
She obtained a PhD. in Agro-Environmental Economics from Virginia Technology and MSc. and BSc. from McGill University. She has an extensive list of publications on sustainable agriculture, trade and environment, sustainable consumption and production, financing for sustainable development, stakeholder engagement, global value chains, micro, small and medium enterprises, and economic empowerment of women.
Matthew Wilson is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations, World Trade Organisation and Other International Organisations in Geneva. He is Chair of the WTO Working Group on MSMEs and convener of the WTO Dialogue on Plastics Pollution.
He has held various senior roles in international organisations including Chief of Staff at the International Trade Centre; Senior Adviser to the WTO Director General, Deputy Aid for Trade Coordinator at the WTO and the first ‘Friend of the Chair’ on the WTO Trade Facilitation Negotiations.
He is an International Gender Champion and is on the steering committee of the International Gender Champions; the WEF Climate Trade Zero; the Forum on Trade, Environment and the SDGs; and the shridath ramphal centre for international trade law, policy and services at the University of the West Indies.
Aik Hoe Lim is Director of the Trade and Environment Division at the World Trade Organization and leads its work on environmental sustainability, climate change and trade, as well as on the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. In this role, he has strengthened WTO's partnership with UNEP as well as other international environmental organizations. He led the establishment of WTO's Trade and Environment Week, which is now an annual flagship event for the organization. He joined the WTO in 1999 and served in the External Relations Division, the Director-General's Cabinet and the Trade in Services Division. He was previously Counsellor to two WTO Director-Generals, Advisor to the Director‑General's Consultative Group, and Secretary to WTO committees, working groups and negotiating bodies on services trade and domestic regulation. He represents the WTO in the UN Environmental Management Group and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the UNEP Global Environmental Outlook. Some of his publications include contributions to the "Research Handbook on Climate Change and Trade Law" (2017); "Win-Win: How International Trade Can Help Meet the Sustainable Development Goals" (2017); and an edited volume on "WTO Domestic Regulation and Services Trade" (2014).
Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield is Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Thailand to the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization Geneva, Switzerland. Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield has been Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand to the WTO and WIPO since March 2021, and is the current Chairperson of the TRIPS Council at the WTO (2023).
Prior to this, she was Director-General of Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) at the Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. TPSO was established in 2015 to be the “Think Tank” agency of the MOC with Pimchanok leading the Office since its beginning and steering it to become one of the leading and respected economic agencies in Thailand today. She introduced several projects that brought TPSO into the “New Economy” era such as Trade Intelligence System (TIS) or “Big Data” unit for the Ministry, “Tracethai.com” - a traceability system for organic rice using Blockchain and a first-ever comprehensive data unit for Thai logistics operators. Pimchanok’s early career was focused on trade negotiations particularly on services, investment, environment, labour and e-commerce.
Her negotiations experiences spanned from 2 multilateral- (WTO), regional- (ASEAN and APEC) to bilateral-level (FTA), built through her works in Thailand and postings in Geneva and Brussels. In recent years, she has expanded her expertise on global economic analysis, strategic thinking and the new technology such as blockchain, platform and digital economy while retaining her keen interests on sustainability issues.
Pimchanok was educated in New Zealand and Japan and attended training courses at WTO, Harvard Kennedy School and l’ENA. She was Spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, Representative on the Thai National Wage Committee and Advisor to numerous committees at Thai Senate and the private sector’s trade and industry associations.
Jimmy Rantes has assumed the responsibility of the Vanuatu Director General for Trade and Commerce since 2021, after accumulating over 20 years of experience in Agriculture, Trade, and Development.
Prior to this, Mr. Rantes was appointed the Director of the Vanuatu Department of Industries. He holds a Master's of Research from the University of Sunshine Coast, with a special focus on Sustainable Development (Challenges between Policy and Practice). Mr. Rantes was also a former WTO intern at the Vanuatu Geneva Mission in 2015.
Among many achievements, some of the important reforms and developments led by Jimmy Rantes in recent years include being the focal point for the EIF Vanuatu programme (as DG) and spearheading several WTO-related key national policies. These include the development of the Vanuatu E-Commerce Strategy and Roadmap of 2022 and the Vanuatu Quality Infrastructure Policy (2024-2029).
As reflected in the Vanuatu Ministry of Trade and Commerce's overarching goal of ‘Promoting Sustainable and Inclusive Trade’, Mr. Jimmy Rantes aims to further this sectoral pursuit, with representation in key WTO and geopolitical reforms being a crucial aspect of it.
Kimberley Botwright is the Head of Sustainable Trade at the World Economic Forum.
Previously, she has worked at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD,) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Kimberley holds an M.A. in European Economics and Policy from l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and a B.A. from the University of Oxford. She is fluent in English and French, and is a citizen of the UK and Switzerland.
Aik Hoe Lim is Director of the Trade and Environment Division at the World Trade Organization and leads its work on environmental sustainability, climate change and trade, as well as on the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. In this role, he has strengthened WTO's partnership with UNEP as well as other international environmental organizations. He led the establishment of WTO's Trade and Environment Week, which is now an annual flagship event for the organization. He joined the WTO in 1999 and served in the External Relations Division, the Director-General's Cabinet and the Trade in Services Division. He was previously Counsellor to two WTO Director-Generals, Advisor to the Director‑General's Consultative Group, and Secretary to WTO committees, working groups and negotiating bodies on services trade and domestic regulation. He represents the WTO in the UN Environmental Management Group and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the UNEP Global Environmental Outlook. Some of his publications include contributions to the "Research Handbook on Climate Change and Trade Law" (2017); "Win-Win: How International Trade Can Help Meet the Sustainable Development Goals" (2017); and an edited volume on "WTO Domestic Regulation and Services Trade" (2014).
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Topic
Trade and environment
Programme
Contact
Ms Claudia Contreras, Economic Affairs Officer, Claudia.contreras@un.org
