United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will organize, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, a panel discussion entitled Leaving nobody behind: enhancing disability inclusion across the international trading system. The event will take place on the margins of the 74th executive session of the Trade and Development Board.
One of the pillars of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the pledge to “leave no one behind” in the process of economic and social development. However, trade expansion on its own is unlikely to benefit the most disadvantaged groups in a country and might instead lead to inequitable outcomes. Global estimates suggest that 1 in 10 children and 1 in 6 adults have some type of disability and persons with disabilities are often unable to participate in economic life on an equal basis.
In this context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland commissioned a research paper: Inclusive trade and persons with disabilities. This report contributes to the promotion of a disability inclusive trade policy agenda by building an analytical framework that illustrates the multiple ways in which greater trade integration can affect persons with disabilities, and by developing a definition of disability inclusive trade that can be operationalized. The report summarizes key priorities and offers suggestions on how trade programmes could best promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in the context of trade expansion.
In order to launch this research, UNCTAD will host a panel discussion, with participation of a wide range of stakeholders including government representatives, intergovernmental organizations, organizations of persons with disabilities. The event will give the opportunity for the Geneva trade community to react to the key priorities raised in the report and discuss how trade programmes could best promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in the context of the international trading system.
The hybrid event will ensure that discussions are accessible to a wide range of geographical participants and also include accessibility features for persons with disabilities, including closed captions and sign language interpretation.
In September 2021, Rebeca Grynspan was appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), becoming the first woman to lead the organization in its 60-year history.
Rebeca Grynspan, an economist and former Vice President of Costa Rica, is an experienced leader of international institutions with a substantive track record in government, UN diplomacy, economic policy and multilateral cooperation at the global level.
Prior to joining the United Nations, she was Vice President of Costa Rica and held cabinet positions as Minister of Housing, Minister Coordinator of Economic and Social Affairs and Deputy Finance Minister.
Previously, she served as Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Conference (2014–2021), chairing regional summits of Heads of State and Government; United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. She was a member of the UN Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti, representing the UN Secretary-General.
At UNCTAD, Grynspan has been at the centre of critical negotiations to address global trade and development challenges. She played a decisive role in the successful Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered between the UN, Türkiye, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, which enabled the safe export of over 32 million tons of grain, lowered global food prices by 22% and prevented millions from falling into food insecurity. She also leads the UN Global Crisis Response Group on food, energy and finance, and has represented the UN in G20 summits.
Her leadership has been recognized widely. In 2024, she received the Doha Negotiator of the Year Award for spearheading UN efforts to restore Black Sea trade routes. In 2025, Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation awarded her the inaugural Isabel Oyarzábal Women in Multilateralism International Prize for her contribution to multilateralism.
Ms. Grynspan holds degrees in economics from the University of Costa Rica and the University of Sussex, and honorary doctorates from several European universities.
Ville Tavio is a Member of Parliament representing Finland and currently serves as the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development.
He has over ten years of experience in municipal politics. Tavio first entered Parliament in 2015, where he has chaired the Finns Party Parliamentary Group and served on several key committees, including the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Grand Committee, and the Legal Affairs Committee. Additionally, he was a long-time member of the Concern Section of the City Board of Turku.
His experience extends to supervisory roles, as he has been a member of the boards of VR Group Ltd, which is Finland's government-owned railway company, and Veikkaus Ltd, the government-owned betting agency. Tavio also founded a law firm specializing in litigation.
He earned a Master of Laws degree from the University of Turku in 2012.
Ambassador Schroderus-Fox is the Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations, World Trade Organization, and Conference on Disarmament. She comes to this position from the United Nation Headquarters in New York, having served as the Director of the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) from 2012 to 2023. In this capacity, she recently served as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations 5th Conference on the Least Developed Countries, in Doha,
Ms. Schroderus-Fox joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1988, and has previously served at Finnish missions in Paris, Washington DC, Tel Aviv, Pretoria and New York. She served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations in New York during 2006-2010. During her work for Finland, she has made significant contributions in the areas of intergovernmental policy dialogue, partnership building and negotiations. Earlier in her career she focused particularly on Security Policy, Arms Control and the Middle East, chairing many international negotiations relating to these issues.
In 2010–2011, she served as the Head of Policy Issues for the Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly.
She holds a degree of Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration. She is also an alumni of the executive program of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.
Ms. Schroderus-Fox is married to Mr. Alan Fox and they have two children.
Miho Shirotori is the Chief of the Trading Systems, Services and Creative Economy Branch within the Division on International Trade and Commodities (DITC) at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
She leads a team of experts dedicated to analyzing how trade agreements, trade in services, and the creative economy can foster inclusive and sustainable economic diversification.
Her areas of expertise include promoting equitable trade in agriculture, particularly for least developed countries (LDCs), low-income countries, and net food-importing developing countries.
Mr. Anderson Gitonga is a results focused and dynamic community development practitioner, who has successfully led multi-disciplinary teams in implementing community focused programs for the last twenty-five years, focusing on the persons with various disabilities.
Currently, he is the Inclusive Development Director at CBM Global Disability Inclusion, an International NGO that works on disability inclusion through development and humanitarian programming. Previously, he has held leadership positions as the Executive Officer at the United Disabled Persons of Kenya, (National Umbrella organisation for organisations of persons with disabilities), has held programmatic and leadership functions at Act Change Transform, Association for the Physically Disabled Persons of Kenya (APDK) among others
Marzia Fontana is currently a Research Associate at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
Marzia is a feminist economist with over 25 years of research and teaching experience in the areas of intersecting inequalities, labour markets and international trade. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics. Marzia has collaborated with a wide range of international organizations and bilateral agencies on trade-related projects, with a special focus on inclusive trade and gender equality.
She has a PhD in Economics and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Sussex.
Ms. Fessehaie is Head, SheTrades Initiative at the International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of UNCTAD and the WTO. In this capacity, she oversees a portfolio of projects and programmes spanning capacity-building and access to markets for women producers and entrepreneurs; partnerships with business support organisations and corporates; and gender mainstreaming into trade policy-making.
Prior to joining ITC, Judith managed the trade and development programme at a leading Geneva-based think tank; and worked as a trade, industrial and regional value chain advisor at the Johannesburg-based Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED); TradeMark Southern Africa, Zambia's Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. She also taught an MPhil in Industrial Policy run by UN IDEP – University of Johannesburg.
