Regional workshops on "The Trade Dimension in United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks" have been held in Beirut, Lebanon (15-17 April), and in La Antigua, Guatemala (20-23 May).
The workshop in La Antigua was jointly staged by the Government of Guatemala, UNCTAD, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Government representatives were present from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.
The workshop in Beirut was carried out in cooperation with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). Government representatives attended from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, the State of Palestine, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and ILO participated in this workshop.
 Regional workshop on the Trade Dimension in United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs) Beirut, Lebanon, 15-17 April 2013 |
The regional meetings aimed to explain why it is important that international trade and the enhancement of productive capacities - that is, the ability of economies to produce goods of greater variety and sophistication - should feature strongly in development efforts.
More specifically, the workshops focused on United Nations country-level assistance strategies, and on how trade and productive capacities can be incorporated effectively into these strategies.
Expanding productive capacity has been cited by UNCTAD for some years as a critical factor in helping poor countries to raise living standards and achieve stable economic progress.
The workshops aimed to raise the profile of international trade and productive capacity, so that these may feature prominently in the setting of strategies for United Nations assistance on economic and trade-related issues. The sessions also aimed to help government officials and others to carry out the inter-agency coordination needed to establish these strategies.
 Regional workshop on the Trade Dimension in United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs), La Antigua, Guatemala, 20-22 May 2013 |
The regional workshops are part of a larger programme that includes national workshops, regional workshops, and online courses on the topic. Apart from the workshops in Lebanon and Guatemala, a national workshop has been conducted in Lesotho. Regional workshops have also been held in Mali and Nepal. In addition, in cooperation with UNITAR, an online course was run in 2012, and two more online courses are planned for 2013. A final global workshop will be staged in Geneva in November. The training material for the workshops was developed within the United Nations Inter-Agency Cluster on Trade and Productive Capacity, to ensure that the vision and expertise of all the members of the Cluster was reflected in the course and conveyed to the trainees.
