UNCTAD GOVERNING BOARD TO HOLD ANNUAL SESSION GENEVA, 13-24 OCTOBER

9 October 1997

Press Release
TAD/1850

UNCTAD GOVERNING BOARD TO HOLD ANNUAL SESSION GENEVA, 13-24 OCTOBER

19971009 Background Release GENEVA, 9 October (UNCTAD) -- The Trade and Development Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the organization's highest executive body between the quadrennial ministerial Conferences, will hold its annual session from 13 to 24 October. The President is expected to be Ambassador Goce Petreski of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, who will hold office for the next 12 months.

Discussions at the Board will focus on the broad issues of economic interdependence and globalization, and their impact on developing countries - notably, their socio-economic development and competitiveness. The main specific agenda items relate to Africa and the least developed countries (LDCs). The Board will also be informed about a four-day meeting to be held in November 1998 in Lyon (France) with the aim of launching "Partnerships for Development" in specific areas of UNCTAD's work, among non-governmental organizations, the business community, and governments.

Two major events are scheduled at the Board's session. The first is a high-level segment on "Globalization, Competition, Competitiveness and Development". On Thursday, 23 October (Assembly Hall, Palais des Nations), a policy debate among ministers and other senior officials will be held on this topic. The Moderator and Chairman will be the Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, Jan Pronk.

The morning session (9.30 a.m - 1.30 p.m.) will be devoted to the relationship between competition and competitiveness from a development perspective. Questions it will address include the following: What has been the role of competition law and policies in establishing the necessary conditions for the successful integration of some developing countries and economies in transition in global markets? And to what extent has success in achieving international competitiveness had positive consequences for employment, growth and development?

Members of the discussion panel are: Mr. Pronk; Pedro Lizaña, former Chairman, Society of Industrial Development (Chilean Federation of Industry); Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University; Kwesi Botwchwey, former Finance Minister of Ghana; and Pitak Intrawityanunt, Deputy Foreign Minister of Thailand. The President of UNCTAD IX, Alec Erwin, Minister of Trade and Industry of South Africa, is expected to act as the principal respondent.

The afternoon session will deal with the future of competition -- a prospective examination of electronic commerce. Electronic commerce is reshaping the ways in which enterprises and nations compete on global markets. But, how does it affect developing countries?

This key question will be addressed by the following panellists: Carlos Ronderos, Minister for Foreign Trade of Colombia; Geza Feketekuty, Director, Center for Trade and Commercial Diplomacy, Monterrey Institute of International Studies, San Diego, California; and Tariq Sayeed, Chairman, "Group of 77" Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Developing Countries.

The second part of the afternoon session will be devoted to the UNCTAD Secretary-General's Partners for Development project. Lyon's Deputy Mayor and member of the European Parliament, André Soulier, will launch an event to be held in his city in November 1998. A video message by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and an address by Rubens Ricupero will testify to the importance the United Nations attaches to the strengthening of practical cooperation with the business community and civil society, in the cause of development.

Prebisch lecture

The second special event will be the eighth Raul Prebisch Lecture, to be delivered at 10 a.m., on Friday 24 October, by Professor Dani Rodrik of Harvard University. The lecture is called "Globalization, social conflict and economic growth". It represents the latest in a series of public lectures given by distinguished academics or policy-makers on important topical issues.

Interdependence

During the first week of the Board, the main event will be an intergovernmental discussion on globalization, growth and distribution. The debate is expected to highlight one of the most urgent issues of the day: the growing inequalities within and across, countries in the world economy and the threat that these pose to closer economic integration. What scope exists for domestic policies to achieve a faster, and more broadly shared, pattern of growth will be discussed. So, too, will the international environment required to achieve this goal.

The arguments and conclusions contained in the UNCTAD Trade and Development Report 1997 will provide the background for the debate. Further views will emerge from two panel discussions -- on "Development Strategies for Equity and Growth in a Globalizing World", and on "Globalization and the Development Challenges of the 21st Century".

Least Developed Countries

On 16 and 17 October, delegates will discuss the socio-economic situation in the LDCs, drawing on the Least Developed Countries 1997 Report.

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Special attention will be devoted to policy reforms in agriculture and their implications for LDCs' development.

As usual, the Board will also review progress made in the implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action for the LDCs for the 1990s. It will also consider a proposal to convene a Third Global Review Conference on these countries in the year 2000.

Africa

On 20 and 21 October the Board will focus on the recent performance and prospects for Africa, and examine resulting policy issues. In a document prepared for the Board, the UNCTAD secretariat examines the factors underlying the recent economic performance of Africa and assesses their medium to long-term sustainability.

Palestinian Economy

The Board will have before it a report prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat which describes the recent orientation of the secretariat's technical assistance as regards Palestinian trade, finance and related services. Priority future projects are identified. The report also briefly examines developments in the Palestinian economy since 1995.

Other topics

As in preceding years, the Board will review the entire programme of UNCTAD's technical cooperation activities over the past year, based on a report prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat. In June 1997, the Board adopted a strategy for UNCTAD's technical cooperation which will be implemented through annually updated, rolling three-year plans.

Finally, a report will be submitted to the Board summarizing specific actions undertaken by UNCTAD and other international and intergovernmental organizations to promote effective transit transport systems for land-locked developing countries.

Membership

To date UNCTAD's membership stands at 188 countries; of these 144 are members of the Trade and Development Board.

Following the change in status of Hong Kong which, on I July, became a Special Administrative Region of China, the latter has informed the United Nations that, as of that date, "representatives of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, may, as and when the need arises, participate as members of the delegation of the Government of the People"s Republic of China, in the meetings of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development".

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