Kenya roots for reforms at global trade body during Nairobi conference
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed speaks during the launch of the East African Business Summit report at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi on June 17, 2015. She has said the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) must use its upcoming conference in Nairobi to reform. FILE PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Formed in 1964 by the UN General Assembly, UNCTAD is charged with promoting trade as an engine of development and is supposed to facilitate the integration of developing countries into the global economy.
- The Geneva session was hosted by the UNCTAD Secretary General Dr Mukhisa Kituyi and attended by Cabinet Secretaries Najib Balala (Tourism) and Adan Mohamed, (Industrialisation and Enterprise Development).
The UN body charged with facilitating trade and development among countries must use its upcoming conference in Nairobi to reform.
At an information-sharing session in Geneva (Switzerland) on Monday, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed said recent global economic and financial problems demand a stronger organisation to protect developing countries.
The meeting came ahead of the upcoming meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to be held in Nairobi.
Ms Mohamed argued the July Nairobi meeting should be an opportunity for the UNCTAD to build its legacy by addressing the future of development.
Formed in 1964 by the UN General Assembly, UNCTAD is charged with promoting trade as an engine of development and is supposed to facilitate the integration of developing countries into the global economy.
However, its greatest achievement has often been the creation of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), where developed countries may accept goods from developing nations at lower duty.
Critics, though, argue UNCTAD with 194 member states has been unable to tame the supposed manipulation of global economic systems by the rich nations; which sometimes leads to economic crunches.
“The expectation is that this Conference, being a multi-stakeholder event incorporating the Youth Forum, the UNCTAD World Investment Forum, the Civil Society Forum, and the Large Cities Forum, should no doubt deliver on the theme.
“As the first UN conference of the Post-2015 era, it will represent a starting point to translate the heightened ambitions and commitments of the international community into concrete plans of action,” Ms Mohamed said in a speech on Monday, referring to the first such meeting after the UN adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Nairobi conference, officially known as the 14th session of the UNCTAD Conference will be held from July 17-22, 2016 at the Kenya International Convention Centre (KICC).
It will be themed UNCTAD 14 ‘From Decisions to Actions: Moving towards an inclusive and equitable global economic environment for trade and Development’.
Kenya first hosted a similar conference during the nascent years of UNCTAD in 1976.
During that time, participants agreed that exclusion of developing countries from taking part in economic decisions was the cause of an imbalance on world development.
In 2016, that problem still persists. Ms Mohamed said UNCTAD will provide further opportunity to discuss this imbalance and hopeful reach a tangible solution.
The Geneva session was hosted by the UNCTAD Secretary General Dr Mukhisa Kituyi and attended by Cabinet Secretaries Najib Balala (Tourism) and Adan Mohamed, (Industrialisation and Enterprise Development).
Ms Mohamed assured of Kenya's readiness to host the event.
