International Trade and Development

A/RES/65/142No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 18aInternational trade and development, published in 2011.

What other versions does this mandate have?

33 versions · 1994–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/121

2025A/RES/80/121International trade and developmentLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/195International trade and developmentCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/134International trade and developmentCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/151International trade and developmentCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/190International trade and developmentCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

16 topics

Agricultural Trade Economic Growth Employment Intellectual Property International Trade Landlocked Developing Countries Least Developed Countries Market Access Multilateral Trade Negotiations Non-Tariff Barriers South-South Trade Sustainable Development Technical Cooperation Technology Transfer Trade Agreements Trade Policy

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2011.

2011A/66/185International trade and development report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

26 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Trade and Development Board and the report of the Secretary-General;

Reaffirms that international trade can be an engine for development and sustained economic growth, underlines the need to fully harness its potential in that regard, and stresses the importance of upholding a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system that contributes to growth, sustainable development and employment, particularly in developing countries;

Notes with deep concern that the ongoing world financial and economic crisis is still severely impacting international trade, affecting developing countries in particular, and expresses concern about the fragile and uneven state of the recovery of trade flows;

Stresses the need to resist all protectionist measures and tendencies, especially those affecting developing countries, including tariff, non-tariff and other barriers to trade, in particular agricultural subsidies, and to rectify any such measures already taken, recognizes the right of countries to fully utilize their policy space, consistent with World Trade Organization commitments, and calls upon the World Trade Organization and other relevant bodies, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, to continue monitoring protectionist measures and to assess their impact on developing countries;

Encourages Member States to refrain from adopting any measures or restrictions related to trade and transit that affect the access by developing countries to medicines, especially generic medicines, and medical equipment;

Expresses serious concern at the lack of progress in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations, reiterates the call on all members of the World Trade Organization, in particular developed country members, to demonstrate the flexibility and political will necessary to break the current impasse in the negotiations, and calls for an early, balanced, ambitious and development-oriented outcome of the Doha Development Agenda multilateral trade negotiations, in keeping with the development mandate of the Doha Ministerial Declaration,Error: Reference source not found the decision of 1 August 2004 of the General Council of the World Trade Organization and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration, which places development at the heart of the multilateral trading system;

Stresses that, in order for the Doha Round to be concluded satisfactorily, the negotiations should strengthen the rules and disciplines in the area of agriculture, eliminate agricultural export subsidies, substantially reduce the domestic measures of support by developed countries and promote enhanced market access to developed country markets, in a balanced and development-oriented outcome, while adhering to the development mandate of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the decision of 1 August 2004 of the General Council of the World Trade Organization and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration;

Also stresses the need to make substantial progress in the negotiations of the World Trade Organization complying with the mandate of the Doha Development Agenda, covering all areas under the single undertaking, such as agriculture, non-agricultural market access, services, rules and trade facilitation, as well as in the negotiations on the Dispute Settlement Understanding, to ensure that the development concerns of developing countries are fully reflected in any outcome, consistent with the development mandate of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the decision of 1 August 2004 of the General Council of the World Trade Organization and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration;

Reiterates its call for the review work on special and differential treatment provisions to be completed, with a view to strengthening those provisions and making them more precise, effective and operational, in accordance with paragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and paragraph 35 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration;

Calls for solutions to be found to the implementation-related issues and concerns as set out in the relevant decisions contained in the Doha Ministerial Declaration;

Reiterates its call for work to be accelerated on the development-related mandate concerning the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, especially the issue of making intellectual property rules fully support the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and issues related to the full implementation of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health affecting many developing countries, including the least developed countries, especially those issues arising from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases;

Reaffirms the necessity of promoting the transfer and dissemination of technology and access to knowledge for the benefit of developing countries, taking fully into account the priorities and special needs of developing countries, as well as the World Intellectual Property Organization development agenda;

Also reaffirms the commitments made at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization relating to the least developed countries,Error: Reference source not found calls upon developed countries that have not already done so to provide immediate, predictable, duty-free and quota-free market access on a lasting basis for all products originating from all least developed countries, and welcomes the convening of the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2011;

Calls for the full implementation of the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on Measures Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least Developed and Net Food-importing Developing CountriesError: Reference source not found by providing such countries with technical and financial assistance in order to meet their food needs;

Reaffirms the commitment to actively pursue the work programme of the World Trade Organization with respect to addressing the trade-related issues and concerns affecting the fuller integration of countries with small, vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system in a manner commensurate with their special circumstances and in support of their efforts towards sustainable development, in accordance with paragraph 35 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and paragraph 41 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration;

Also reaffirms its full commitment to urgently addressing the special development needs of and the challenges faced by landlocked developing countries, and calls for the full, timely and effective implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action: Addressing the Special Needs of Landlocked Developing Countries within a New Global Framework for Transit Transport Cooperation for Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries, in accordance with the Declaration of the high-level meeting of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly on the midterm review of the Almaty Programme of Action;

Expresses deep concern at the imposition of laws and other forms of coercive economic measures, including unilateral sanctions, against developing countries, which undermine international law and the rules of the World Trade Organization and also severely threaten freedom of trade and investment;

Calls for the accession of all developing countries that apply for membership in the World Trade Organization, in particular the least developed countries, including countries emerging from conflict that are least developed countries, to be facilitated, bearing in mind paragraph 21 of its resolution 55/182 of 20 December 2000 and subsequent developments, and also calls for the effective and faithful application of the World Trade Organization guidelines on accession by the least developed countries;

Recognizes the urgent need to mobilize additional, non-conditional and predictable funding for Aid for Trade, including through the Enhanced Integrated Framework for Trade-related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries, to help to strengthen and enhance the trade capacity and international competitiveness of developing countries so as to ensure equitable benefits for them from increased trading opportunities and to foster their economic growth, and notes that the third Global Review on Aid for Trade is to be held in Geneva in July 2011;

Also recognizes that South-South trade should be further strengthened, including through market access between developing countries, and in this regard takes note of the Ministerial Decision on Modalities of the São Paulo Round of negotiations on the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries, adopted in Geneva on 2 December 2009, and looks forward to an early conclusion of the São Paulo Round of negotiations;

Reiterates the important role of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as the focal point within the United Nations system for the integrated treatment of trade and development and interrelated issues in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development, and calls upon the international community to work towards the strengthening of the Conference, to enable it to enhance its contribution in its three major pillars, namely, consensus-building, research and policy analysis, and technical assistance, especially through increased core resources;

Invites the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in accordance with its mandate, to monitor and assess the evolution of the international trading system, to undertake policy analysis with a view to fostering greater coherence between the multilateral trading system and the international financial system, from a development perspective, and to support developing countries in building national capacities, including through technical assistance activities;

Reaffirms the fundamental role that competition law and policy can play for sound economic development, in accordance with national legislation, welcomes the convening of the sixth United Nations Conference to Review All Aspects of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices, held in Geneva from 8 to 12 November 2010, and takes note of the final report of the Conference;

Urges donors to provide the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development with the increased resources necessary to deliver effective and demand-driven assistance to developing countries, as well as to enhance their contributions to the trust funds of the Integrated Framework for Trade-related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries and the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme;

Requests the Secretary-General, in collaboration with the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution and developments in the multilateral trading system, under the sub-item entitled “International trade and development” of the item entitled “Macroeconomic policy questions”;

Also requests the Secretary-General to transmit the present resolution to the Director-General of the World Trade Organization for circulation as a document of the World Trade Organization.

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