UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Post

Labor market conditions in the West Bank have deteriorated significantly, with 96% of businesses reporting decreased activity and 42.1% reducing their workforce. A total of 306,000 jobs have been lost, pushing West Bank’s unemployment rates from 12.9% before the conflict to 32%. These job losses have resulted in an estimated daily labor income loss of $25.5 million, severely eroding the economic resilience of Palestinian households and exacerbating social hardships. A UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report reveals a severe economic crisis, driven by collapsing GDP per capita, widespread poverty and soaring unemployment in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Full story: https://ow.ly/cqFk50Tm2kW

What can the multilateral system do to address the global debt crisis and ensure equitable access to finance? “We need a multilateral development network that can provide these countries with the financing for the Sustainable Development Goals and the green transition. For that, we need the system to operate at the necessary scale,” says UN Trade and Development Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan ahead of the Summit of the Future. Full story & interview: https://ow.ly/3HaT50T9xlp #OurCommonFuture

International trade, especially through global value chains, is increasingly linked to serious sustainability challenges like deforestation, climate change, and labor and human rights abuses. To tackle these issues, various voluntary governance tools, such as voluntary sustainability standards, have been developed. What are the latest updates on due diligence regulations in global trade that aim to improve sustainability, and how do these regulations interact with voluntary sustainability standards? Explore this UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report: https://ow.ly/zoF350SYiPM

Global inequality: UN Trade and Development chief calls for inclusive trade policies at #WTOPublicForum. At the World Trade Organization, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan emphasized the critical link between peace, sustainable development and a fair global trading system. She called for reforms to make trade more inclusive and address imbalances that have created winners and losers and left billions of people without fully benefiting from global trade. Ms. Grynspan made her remarks at the WTO Public Forum 2024, where she joined the organization’s director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for a high-level session entitled “The economic case for inclusivity”. Learn more: https://ow.ly/juZk50Tn8nG

UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s SDG Pulse 2024 provides a global reference for tracking developments related to the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The annual statistical publication, now in its sixth edition, paints a mixed picture of how the world is faring on the global goals, highlighting the stark disparities that remain despite significant advancements. The SDG Pulse 2024 comes on the heels of recent findings from the United Nations that only 17% of the SDG targets are on track, though the world is more than halfway along the timeline of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its data and analysis cover a wide range of SDG indicators relevant to trade, investment, financing for development, debt, transport, and technology. It also features an “In focus” section on gender equality in international trade, based on a new set of indicators that reveal persistent gaps, urging targeted policies for women’s economic empowerment. Explore the report: https://lnkd.in/eF6B8wb6 Key messages and graphs: https://lnkd.in/eqdxh-c7

The Global Alliance for Special Economic Zones (GASEZ), in collaboration with UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), reaffirmed its commitment to supporting SEZs as catalysts for sustainable development. SEZs, including free trade zones, industrial parks, and science parks, gathered in Xiamen, China, this week for the 3rd Annual GASEZ Conference. “We aim for more SEZs to become sustainable economic zones,” said Ms. Nan Li Collins 李楠, UN Trade and Development’s Director of Investment and Enterprise, announcing the expansion of the GASEZ initiative to create "SDG Model Zone Partners." Keynote speaker Mr. Elmar Mammadov, Special Adviser and Co-lead of COP29 Initiatives, presented the Baku Initiative for Climate Finance, Investment and Trade (BICFIT), highlighting SEZs' critical role in promoting climate finance, investment and trade. Held during the China International Fair for Trade in Services-CIFTIS, the conference featured matchmaking sessions between Chinese companies and SEZs from the Caribbean, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Founded in 2022, GASEZ partners with organizations such as the Africa Economic Zones Organization (AEZO), IASP - International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation, Free Trade Zone Association of the Americas (Asociación de Zonas Francas de las Américas - AZFA), Green Partnership of Industrial Parks China (GPIPC), National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ), FEMOZA - The World Free & Special Economic Zones Federation, and the World Free Zones Organization ("World FZO").

Blended learning helps countries bolster trade and customs capabilities. Hybrid capacity building offered by UNCTAD ASYCUDA, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s customs automation programme, bears fruit across a growing number of developing economies. Full story: https://ow.ly/Menn50TmZi2

Gaza's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plummeted by 81%in the last quarter of 2023, leading to a 22% contraction for the entire year. By mid-2024 Gaza's economy had shrunk to less than one-sixth of its 2022 level. A UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report reveals a severe economic crisis, driven by collapsing GDP per capita, widespread poverty and soaring unemployment in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Learn more: https://ow.ly/cqFk50Tm2kW