We participate

UNCTAD defines NTMs as regulatory and non-regulatory measures that have a de facto impact on international trade, including licencing, procurement practices, subsidies, public SPS standards and voluntary sustainability standards (VSS). A high-level panel at the beginning of the week highlighted concrete cases of how NTMs can have an adverse impact on exports from developing countries. Key points from an ICTSD perspective from the rest of the week include:

• There should be more transparency in how standards are adopted, regardless of whether they are public or private, so that producers in developing countries know who is blocking their exports and can try to address the problem;

• Within developing countries, good regulatory practice can streamline the NTMs and reduce the cost of producing and exporting: several countries have participated in World Bank and OECD projects to encourage such practices;

• At an international level, it’s important to promote regulatory harmonization around NTMs. Within the East African community, for example, there is a mechanism to discuss any new regulations and resolve issues. Using a common NTM classification and mutual recognition of each other’s rules is crucial. Adopting international rules, like from Codex Alimentarius, can help harmonization around standards;

• A key part of UNCTAD work in recent years has been building an extensive database of such NTMs, covering 109 countries and 90% of trade, based on their statistical classification of each of these measures. This data complements ITC’s StandardsMap, which has info on VSS, and ITC firm-level data on standards adoption;

• This database is used in the analysis of a new book by UNCTAD and the World Bank, entitled “The Unseen Impact of NTMs: Insights from a new database”. The book focuses on NTMs in the context WTO, TFA and SDGs, and assesses the effects of NTMs on market access.

• UNCTAD also has a new book “Non-Tariff Measures: Economic Assessment and Policy Option for Development” which provides an overview of the evolving role of NTMs in the multilateral policy framework and how these measures affect development strategies. This book provides an overview of analytical tools for the assessment of how NTMs impact socio-economic development.

• The UN Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) presented its new 3rdflagship report, which focuses on trade and VSS. The first chapter is by the European University Institute and essentially points out that VSS have a direct influence on sustainable development, by changing the way production is done; and indirectly, because VSS affects trade which affects sustainable development. They then look at all the requirements mentioned in VSS documents using ITC’s standards map, benchmark them against the SDGs, and find that some SDGs are much less represented (eg gender). The second part of the report is on the experience of the UNFSS national platforms.

This session will discuss, inter alia, the role of international trade and its rules in relation to inequality within and among countries. It will explore the multilateral cooperation initiatives to address inequality and foster inclusiveness particularly though the lens of Agenda 2030. Participants will also discuss the role of competition and consumer policies to make markets work for the people.

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Chief Executive of ICTSD, will be a speaker at this High-level panel.

Over the last four years, with support from the Carnegie Corporation, Columbia SIPA has embarked on an ambitious initiative to develop new thinking and expertise at the intersection of digital technology, data, public policy and SIPA’s core fields. The Tech & Policy Initiative is engaging leading scholars, CEOs, entrepreneurs, legal and policy experts, and members of civil society to identify and help solve future digital policy challenges in three areas: cybersecurity, internet governance, and the digital economy.

This Workshop built on three previous annual gatherings, called the SIPA Global Digital Futures Policy Forum. The Workshop considered areas that are well known as important for the future as well as emerging digital public policy issues. Over the course of the day, participants examined selected policy issues of our digital age – notably digital trade; antitrust, the platform economy; global governance; the internet of things; as well policy issues related to digital currencies; digital identities, security and privacy; and elections and online advertising.

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Chief Executive of ICTSD, is a speaker at the plenary 2 on “International Trade in the Digital Age”

Explore further cooperation between ICTSD and DRC.

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Chief Executive of ICTSD, is accompanied by Shuaihua Chen, ICTSD’s Director for Global Economic Governance Initiatives.

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Chief Executive of ICTSD and chair of the Board participated in the Meridian Institute Board of Directors' meeting.

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Chief Executive of ICTSD, and Jonathan Hepburn, Senior Programme Manager of Agriculture at ICTSD met with H.E. Ambassador Ford to explore how ICTSD’s work on agriculture and food security could best support progress in the WTO agriculture negotiations, and to discuss in particular the contribution of our “WTO Paths Forward” initiative.

The UNCTAD Global Services Forum (GSF) is convened to advance the development agenda connected to the services’ economy and trade, to raise awareness on the direct and indirect effects of services on inclusive and sustainable development, and to promote and strengthen partnerships between stakeholders.

The GSF 2018 will focus on the important role of knowledge-based services for sustainable development, productive and export diversification, innovation and internationalization.

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Chief Executive of ICTSD, is a panellist in the session on “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: a services agenda?”

Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Chief Executive of ICTSD, is a co-chair of T20 Task Force on Trade, Investment and Tax Cooperation during Argentina’s G20 Presidency and in 2018/2019 co-chair of T20 Task Force for Trade, Investment and Globalization during Japan’s G20 Presidency participated in the working session of the official transition between the Argentinian co-chairs and the T20 Japanese organizers.