Market Access

A new UNCTAD report examines gains from the half-century-old preferential trade scheme and how to make its benefits more inclusive and sustainable.

UNCTAD, the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the governments of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan launch databases on non-tariff measures, making the countries' trade rules more transparent.

The Senegalese government on Wednesday announced that the country will work with UNCTAD to boost the competitiveness of its cashew and mango exports.

​Stakeholders from the coconut, cocoa and sandalwood sectors participated in a National Stakeholder Workshop sponsored by Vanuatu’s Department of Industry and UNCTAD to assess progress made to advance the development of these sectors and to officially launch two UNCTAD projects; one to construct a Market Information Service, and another to assist producers to achieve certification with Voluntary Sustainability Standards.

UNCTAD and the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia organized workshops last month in Pnhom Penh to discuss the possible trade implications raised from the TPP and Free trade Agreements between the European Union and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

UNCTAD organized an Expert Group meeting, in Geneva, for the Least Developed Countries (LDC) to discuss the progress made on the items covered by the LDC Package (TN/C/W/63) namely, duty-free and quota-free market access, Preferential rules of origin, the Services Waiver and the "Cotton issue".

Cambodia's expanding bicycle-manufacturing industry will face challenges if rules of origin for preferential tariffs are changed, experts have said.

A new United Nations Forum on Voluntary Sustainability Standards, which has just been launched, will focus during its first years on the role to be played by governments in making voluntary sustainability standards work for public policy objectives while avoiding trade friction and exclusion.

The strategy, developed in partnership with the Government of Comoros, focuses on achieving food self-sufficiency, improving the country's access to international markets, and finding the Comoros' place in regional markets.

The labelling of coffee, cocoa, tea, bananas, fish, timber or flowers as "sustainable" under various voluntary certification programmes is among the key challenges facing agrofood-exporting developing countries that are to be discussed at a new United Nations Forum that debuts on 21 and 22 March.