50th Joint Advisory Group, International Trade Centre
04 July 2016
As the other "parent" of ITC, together with WTO, It's my pleasure to be with you today. This meeting is a great opportunity to take stock of our progress and the broader global context in which we work.
Last year, trade growth was only 2.8%. This means that we've had 5 consecutive years with trade growth below 3%.
It's hard to see how current events - Brexit, exchange rate volatility, economic weakness, the ongoing commodities slump -- will lead to a reversal of this trend any time soon. And we all know that we need more and better trade to foster worldwide development.
This is why - in the view of UNCTAD - the work of the ITC remains as important as ever.
ITC's work is central to our collective development aspirations.
As most of you know, the establishment of ITC - originally in 1964 as subsidiary body under GATT and then by 1968 as joint subsidiary body of GATT and UNCTAD - was based on the recognition that market access alone does not solve the problems faced by developing countries. Giving a country the legal right to compete does not automatically make that country competitive.
And since its inception, ITC has been faithfully pursuing its mandate, as given by UNCTAD and the WTO. Every year, ITC continues tirelessly striving to help businesses to take advantage of greater opportunities in the global trading system. This has traditionally involved targeted technical assistance and capacity-building efforts.
Today, hardly anyone would dispute that supporting export capacity constitutes a core element of modern trade strategies.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Last year was a record-breaking year for ITC. ITC delivered $55.3 million worth of Extra Budgetary expenditures on technical assistance, capacity support, and market intelligence.
Over the past twelve months, ITC has also teamed up with UNCTAD in a number of areas, for example on trade information, on trade facilitation, and on training.
Let me say a few words about each of these three areas in turn.
On trade information, UNCTAD and ITC have teamed up with the African Development Bank and the World Bank on the Transparency in Trade Initiative. This project collects trade data on tariff and non-tariff barriers, making it easier for businesses to acquire information.
On trade facilitation, UNCTAD's traditional cooperation with ITC was broadened to include UNECE. With common objectives, this trifecta can respond more quickly to technical assistance requests in a cost-effective manner.
Just to give you one example, UNCTAD and ITC, working together, have helped over 50 countries to categorize their commitments for notification to WTO. And we have been not only effective, but also cost-efficient. The cost of our assistance is, on average, USD 20.000 per country.
In other areas, such as training, ITC has been collaborating with UNCTAD's Virtual Institute since 2007. And in 2015, we organized three joint trainings.
Lastly, as members of the Geneva trade cluster, ITC, UNCTAD, and the WTO have been working together to develop and track trade-related indicators for the SDGs. Moreover, we have collaborated on trade-related reports and briefs that have been fed into Agenda 2030 and the Finance for Development process.
What each of these examples illustrates is that success is best achieved when our organizations complement each other, drawing on our respective comparative advantages. Our work has the greatest impact when individual strengths are matched with projects where our organizations have clear mandates.
Given the magnitude and complexity of Agenda 2030, partnerships are essential to make efficient use of scarce resources.
While UNCTAD deals with trade policies, regulations and institutions from a development perspective, and WTO with trade rules and adjudication, ITC complements both organizations by connecting Small and Medium Enterprises to global trade. And I am sure that cooperation between the three of us will only deepen in the coming years.
Dear Friends,
We all believe that trade can be a powerful engine for growth and development. And we have to work together to ensure trade plays the role it should to attain the Sustainable Development Goals, and build the world we all want by 2030.
Thanks for your attention.
