As reaffirmed in the São Paulo Consensus (SPC), UNCTAD’s technical cooperation will continue to play a key role as one of the three pillars of the organization.
The content and modalities of UNCTAD assistance are constantly evolving, reflecting both donors´ and beneficiaries´ concerns. Many innovations and improvements have been introduced in UNCTAD’s technical cooperation in recent years – most of them producing positive managerial and substantive results. Further improvements may be required in order to keep UNCTAD up to date from the point of view of the new topics emerging in the trade and development arenas and efficient from the point of view of the impact of its work on development.
The technical cooperation of UNCTAD has to be assessed in light of the overall context that surrounds it and to which it belongs. In this regard, four elements are shaping – and will continue to shape – the context that impacts on UNCTAD technical cooperation:
(a) the implications of the São Paulo Consensus mandates;
(b) the changes taking place within the ongoing reforms of UN development operations;
(c) the increasing attention given to ownership, sustainability and predictability of operations;
(d) the proliferating bilateral, regional and international initiatives in the area of trade related assistance, involving an increasingly wide spectrum of players in addition to the traditional governmental aid and international organizations.
