BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:unctad.org BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6a8cd0bbdb19c DTSTART:20230427T080000Z SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE DTEND:20230427T110000Z LOCATION:Online and Geneva\, Switzerland SUMMARY:P166 short courses on key international economic and development is sues for Geneva-based delegates CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Voluntary sustainability standards and international trade\n\nI nternational trade is recognized as a driver of inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction that contributes to the promotion of sustainable dev elopment under both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Ad dis Ababa Action Agenda. However\, training policymakers to map interlinka ges between trade policy and sustainable development remains a challenge\, along with ensuring that trade policy outcomes positively influence susta inable development. In this regard\, implementing voluntary sustainability standards related to products and production processes can help ensure th at products and production processes comply with a set of social\, economi c and/or environmental requirements in order to make global production mor e sustainable. Such standards may help generate higher productivity levels due to improved agricultural practices\, training\, input use and technol ogy transfer at the level of producers\, thereby allowing for higher trade volumes. However\, the reliance of such standards on audits to ensure com pliance has become a challenge during the pandemic. In addition\, even bef ore the pandemic\, voluntary sustainability standards might have impeded t rade\, particularly in low-income countries. Certification\, compliance an d monitoring costs make it difficult for some producers\, particularly sma llholders\, to obtain certification\, and might drive them out of export m arkets. Such costs are proportionally higher in countries with weak instit utions and/or a fragile regulatory environment. This course will address t he following:\n\n\nBest practices in implementing voluntary sustainability standards to pursue sustainable trade\, particularly in post-pandemic rec overy\nOpportunities and challenges in using voluntary sustainability stan dards to make trade more sustainable and inclusive for developing countrie s\nCapacity to strategize the building blocks of sustainable global value chains\n\n<\;h3 class="\;text-align-center\n\nView meeting on unctad .org\nhttps://unctad.org/meeting/p166-short-courses-key-international-econ omic-and-development-issues-geneva-based-4 DTSTAMP:20260824T231611Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR