Fifty years to the day after it concluded its first historic meeting in Geneva, UNCTAD opens a week of anniversary events on 16 June.
The events focus on UNCTAD's future influence on the changing landscape of trade and development, as well as past successes and present activities.
“UNCTAD’s fiftieth anniversary falls at a time when the global economy needs rebalancing and its governance structure redefining,” UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said. “This year – 2014 – marks an important moment in the multilateral system and offers the international community the chance to reflect on its origins and on our collective accomplishments.”
The programme of events includes the participation of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, veteran trade negotiators from UNCTAD I in 1964, global thought leaders on trade and development questions, and high-level diplomatic, civil society and private sector representation. There will also be a cultural programme including book launches, concerts and a film festival. The week’s events take place over five days at the Palais des Nations, and are open to the public (registration required).
An organ of the United Nations General Assembly, UNCTAD was convened in Geneva in 1964 to address inequalities in a global trading system that left newly independent nations and those of the global south at a disadvantage to the rich, industrialized countries. Conceived as a negotiating platform and policy shop that gave a “voice to the voiceless”, UNCTAD went on to identify practical outcomes based on multilateral consensus in areas such as commodities, investment, debt and finance, technology transfer, customs and shipping, entrepreneurship and the green economy.
The intellectual legacy of UNCTAD and its continued contribution to trade and development questions will be examined on 16 June with an opening session, followed by a round table discussion on the challenges ahead named in honour of UNCTAD’s founding Secretary-General, the influential Argentine economist Raúl Prebisch (1901-1985). Speakers include Jose Antonio Ocampo, former United Nations Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Jayati Ghosh, Professor at Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jan Pronk, former Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD. The United Nations Orchestra completes the day with a concert of popular European orchestral works.
On 17 June, UNCTAD’s governing body, the Trade and Development Board, meets for a special session to be addressed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Vice-President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga, with statements by member States. The day will be rounded off by a traditional Indonesian cultural performance.
On the morning of 18 June, Dr. Kituyi will host the Third Geneva Dialogue, the latest in a series of important points of contact with various stakeholders in the formation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs will most likely succeed the Millennium Development Goals when they expire at the end of 2015 and UNCTAD is taking a leading role in placing trade at the centre of the new targets.
At lunchtime that day, the Group of 77 and China, a negotiating bloc formed during UNCTAD I, will hold an anniversary event, including the launch of the Gamani Corea Forum, named in honour of Gamani Corea, the Sri Lankan economist, diplomat and Secretary-General of UNCTAD from 1974 to 1984, who died last year aged 87.
In the afternoon of the 18 June, UNCTAD’s annual Public Symposium opens for two days of debates with leading experts, academics, civil society representatives, members of the private sector and the general public. Speakers include Guy Ryder, Director General of the International Labour Organization, Supachai Panitchpakdi, UNCTAD Secretary-General 2005–2013, Rubens Ricupero, UNCTAD Secretary-General 1995–2004, and representatives of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (USA), Fair Trade Africa (Kenya), Oxfam (UK), and CUTS International (India).
The evening of 18 June also sees the opening of a festival of African films, being run in connection with UNCTAD’s focus on boosting creative industries in developing countries. Films from Mozambique, Tunisia and Chad are among those that will subsequently be shown at lunchtimes in Room XXIV until 25 June.
The fourth day, 19 June ends with a concert by renowned Russian violinist and educator Yuri Bashmet, accompanied by the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Russia.
The last day of UNCTAD’s celebratory week on 20 June features a number of special events including a debate about the role of “mobile money” (money sent by mobile phone) and ways to cut its cost – a vital issue in sub-Saharan Africa and other places where remittances from migrant workers are an important part of the economy. There will also be a seminar looking at the special struggles of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a curtain-raiser to a large UN Conference on this topic taking place in Samoa in September.
To mark UNCTAD’s fifty years of independent thinking, University of Oxford economic historian John Toye has written “UNCTAD at 50: A Short History”. The book will be presented at the morning session on 16 June and is available for download from UNCTAD’s website.
