The tenth session of the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Trade, Services and Development, held from 10 to 12 July 2023 in Geneva, conducted discussions focused on the role of trade and services for enhancing science, technology and innovation to promote a fair transition to sustainable energy.
The Acting Director of the UNCTAD Division on International Trade and Commodities introduced the topic, discussing the interconnectedness of trade, services and the energy transition.
The transition would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance energy security, through diversified sources, and lower energy costs and could stimulate new economic activities.
Data from the International Renewable Energy Agency showed that the global renewable energy sector saw a 70 per cent growth in jobs between 2012 and 2021.
Services played a crucial role in implementing energy transition projects on the ground, encompassing among other areas legal services for site acquisition and power purchase agreements, financial services for securing funding, engineering and construction services for grid installation and maintenance services for grid operation.
Additionally, information and communications technology (ICT) services were vital for digitalizing the energy sector. Some developing countries might encounter obstacles in accessing high-quality, reliable and affordable services to support their energy transition.
Obstacles could be due to limited knowledge and experience, as well as insufficient skilled labour and access to finance. Trade could minimize the challenges by improving access to quality services and ultimately improving domestic services capacity.
Trade could also be a vehicle for technology, knowledge and skills transfer, for investment attraction and new export opportunities – including at the intraregional level – and for greater cooperation among countries in aligning their trade and energy transition policies.
That alignment could be undertaken by revisiting the contents of trade and investment agreements to see if provisions could be modernized to help trade and investment growth contribute to the energy transition, and vice versa.
The role of trade and services for enhancing science, technology and innovation to promote a fair transition to sustainable energy
This Expert Meeting will focus on the contribution of trade in services in the area of science, technology and innovation and on technology transfer in support of the transition to sustainable energy.
The session will address the role of trade in services in economic diversification, in accordance with the four transformations highlighted in the Bridgetown Covenant, including that of "transforming economies through diversification".
The session will provide an opportunity for experts to exchange views on and good practices in how policy coherence can be pursued with regard to policies on trade in services, science, technology and innovation, energy and the environment.
In addition, the role of regional and international cooperation in leveraging trade in services in support of sustainable energy and economic diversification will be examined. Findings from the discussions will contribute to supporting and promoting "activities and initiatives in developing countries through the improvement in trade in services".
Participation
Member States are invited to nominate experts from the public and/or private sectors. Nominated experts are encouraged to participate in all sessions of the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Trade, Services and Development, to ensure continuity. Each State is encouraged to nominate up to five experts to participate.
Inputs from experts
The UNCTAD Secretariat is collecting inputs and views that will contribute to the discussion at the meeting and to a publication on services, trade and development.
In addition, experts nominated by member States are encouraged to submit brief papers (approximately 5-12 pages) as contributions to the work of the meeting. The papers will be made available at the meeting in the form and language in which they are received.
Papers should be submitted to the UNCTAD secretariat in advance of the meeting, addressed to tsce@un.org.
