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Natural, heritage products, if protected and marketed well, could become a bigger source of revenue for many Least Developed Countries. Many of these countries are dangerously dependent on commodity exports and must diversify their economies.

Developing countries can protect millions of fisheries-related jobs by negotiating an end to fishing subsidies at a top-level World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting scheduled for December 2017, UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said on Wednesday.

Effective new policies that create jobs, improve wellbeing and drive social development will depend on reliable, timely and impartial statistics, the head of UNCTAD's statistics and information branch said in a statement marking World Statistics Day.

In July, some 90 countries signed up to an UNCTAD-FAO-UNEP roadmap towards ending harmful fishing subsidies. Some non-governmental organizations also signed up, including the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Aimee Gonzales, WWF's ecosystems goods and services manager, explains why the initiative is so important.

Civil society organizations urged Governments to strengthen the mandate of the UNCTAD, including on tax issues and trade imbalances, and commended the United Nations body for having been the first to warn about the global financial crisis.

UNCTAD spoke to Alvin Mosioma, who is leading the process by which civil society organizations seek to influence the intergovernmental deliberations at UNCTAD 14.

UNCTAD welcomes the imminent operationalization of the FAO's Port State Measures Agreement that will give States and Port Authorities increased competences and legal tools to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

UNCTAD, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Ocean Institute gathered foremost experts, member states and NGOs to take stock and consider innovative ideas and best practices to implement SDG 14, the oceans' goal.

​UNCTAD presented its new report during events held in Geneva and New York, which maps out complex interlinkages between market access conditions and the enabling environment surrounding the Sustainable Development Goals.

At the invitation of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, Mr. Joakim Reiter, Deputy Secretary General of UNCTAD, undertook an advisory mission to Tehran on 27 February 2016. The purpose of the visit was to discuss possible technical assistance and capacity building that UNCTAD could provide in the context of Iran’s trade-related reforms in particular accession to the WTO.