The Global Commodities Forum, organized by UNCTAD with the support of its partners, is a major multi-stakeholder meeting to discuss and find better solutions to perennial problems of the commodity economy.
The theme of this fourth Global Commodities Forum is "Recommitting to commodity sector development as an engine of economic growth and poverty reduction."
The Global Commodities Forum will address key issues relating to risk management and resilience, such as methods and mechanisms for developing countries and small-scale producers to prosper in spite of the ongoing volatility in commodity markets.
Due attention will be given to the agricultural sector, with a session on overcoming disadvantages in the sector by developing capabilities, investing in neglected infrastructure and other public goods, and filling the void left by the elimination of parastatal institutions.
Two breakout sessions will be held. One session will be for stakeholders to discuss the challenges and solutions involved in collecting, analysing and disseminating market information and other commodities data, and the other on how to improve transparency in commodity markets and value chains.
Participation
The Global Commodities Forum will bring together ministers and other high-level representatives of governments, corporate executives of banking and finance institutions, leading academics and experts, and non-governmental organizations.
Member States of UNCTAD are requested to help to disseminate the information on the Global Commodities Forum to the main stakeholders in their countries, thus facilitating their active participation in the Forum.
Participants in this informal high-level multi-stakeholder meeting will attend in their personal capacities, and will include leading policymakers, businesspeople and experts of the commodity economy.
Specialized agencies and intergovernmental bodies wishing to participate in the meeting, as well as non-governmental organizations in the general category and those in the special category wishing to participate as observers, are requested to inform the UNCTAD secretariat of the names of their representatives by 8 March 2013.
