Commodities

A/RES/72/205No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 17dCommodities, published in 2018.

What other versions does this mandate have?

22 versions · 1987–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

2025A/RES/80/124CommoditiesLatestCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/138CommoditiesCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/194CommoditiesCompare with previous version
2020A/RES/74/204CommoditiesCompare with previous version
2018A/RES/72/205CommoditiesCompare 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?

7 topics

Commodities Commodity Markets Commodity Prices Energy Prices Minerals Trade in Commodities Trade Policy

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2019.

2019A/74/232World commodity trends and prospects report of the Secretary-General

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

What does this mandate say?

29 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on world commodity trends and prospects;

Recognizes the interlinkage between the adequate and transparent functioning of commodity markets and the capacity of some commodity-dependent developing countries to collect appropriate fiscal revenues from commodity exports and mobilize domestic sources to support their sustainable development, mainly through sustainable and inclusive economic growth, industrialization, decent work and market diversification;

Encourages support for developing countries, according to their national plans and policies, through technical assistance, to increase their capacity in detecting and averting trade mispricing in their commodities sectors in order to enhance their benefits from those sectors to support sustainable growth and development;

Reiterates the need for further efforts to address excessive commodity price volatility, in particular by assisting producers, especially small-scale producers, including women, in accordance with national plans and policies, in managing risk;

Calls upon the international community to support the efforts of commodity-dependent developing countries to address the factors that create structural barriers to international trade and impede, inter alia, diversification, including tariff and non-tariff barriers, limited access to financial services resulting in scarce resources for investing in the commodity sector, weak infrastructure, particularly regarding both the cost and availability of transportation and storage, and lack of skills in producing and marketing alternative products;

Looks forward to the convening of the Eleventh Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in Buenos Aires from 10 to 13 December 2017;

Notes with concern the slow and uneven recovery from the severe economic and financial crisis of 2008, despite the recent strengthening of global economic activity, since growth remains weak in many countries and agricultural and other commodity prices remain depressed while inequalities are rising, and acknowledges that international trade can play a role in achieving sustainable, robust and balanced growth for all;

Calls for a coherent set of policy actions at the national, regional and international levels to address excessive price volatility and support commodity-dependent developing countries in mitigating negative impacts, in particular by facilitating value addition and enhancing their participation in commodity and related product value chains, by supporting large-scale diversification of these economies and by encouraging the use and further development of market-oriented risk management tools, instruments and strategies;

Stresses the importance of developing and strengthening agricultural policies and strategies that recognize and address women’s critical role in food security and improved nutrition outcomes as an integral part of both short- and long-term responses to food insecurity and malnutrition, excessive price volatility and food crises in developing countries;

Recognizes the potential for innovation, productivity improvements and the promotion of non-traditional exports in most commodity-dependent developing countries, particularly in Africa, and calls for enhanced support by the international community as well as exchanges of experience in these areas within the framework of South-South economic cooperation;

Underscores the importance of increased investments in quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure as a means of promoting agricultural development and enhancing commodity diversification, including value-added production, and trade, and urges the international community to assist commodity-dependent developing countries to mainstream trade as well as sound investment and financial policies as key elements of development strategies, based on national circumstances and development priorities, and to invest in and support research and development of agriculture productivity;

Recognizes the endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security by the Committee on World Food Security in 2012;

Also recognizes the endorsement of the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems by the Committee on World Food Security in 2014;

Stresses that technical assistance and capacity-building aimed at improving the commodity export competitiveness of producers are particularly important for developing countries, especially in Africa, and invites Member States and all relevant stakeholders to provide the necessary resources for commodity-specific financial and technical assistance, in particular for human and institutional capacity-building, including gender-responsive measures, as well as quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure development of developing countries, with a view to reducing their institutional bottlenecks and transaction costs and enhancing their commodity trade and development in accordance with national development plans;

Also stresses that the Aid for Trade initiative should aim to help developing countries, particularly the least developed countries, to build the supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure that they need to assist them to implement and benefit from World Trade Organization agreements and, more broadly, to expand their trade;

Recalls the agreement to keep under regular review, by the Ministerial Conference and appropriate organs of the World Trade Organization, the impact of the results of the Uruguay Round on the least developed countries as well as on the net food-importing developing countries, with a view to fostering positive measures to enable them to achieve their development objectives, and in this regard calls for the 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 Countries;

Encourages developed countries that have not already done so and developing countries declaring themselves in a position to do so to take steps towards the goal of realizing timely implementation of duty-free and quota-free market access on a lasting basis for all least developed countries, consistent with the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration adopted by the World Trade Organization in 2005;

Strongly encourages international financial institutions and development banks to assist developing countries, in particular commodity-dependent developing countries, in managing the effects of excessive price volatility;

Reaffirms that every State has and shall freely exercise full permanent sovereignty over all its wealth, natural resources and economic activities;

Recognizes the importance of increasing efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in the management of public and private sector revenues in developed and developing countries derived from all commodities and commodities-related industries, including final processed goods, in support of development;

Notes the important contributions of the Common Fund for Commodities and other international commodities organizations, and encourages them, in cooperation with the International Trade Centre, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and other relevant bodies, to strengthen coordination among them and to identify and implement innovative measures to enable the sustainable contribution of the commodity sector to economic development, including ways to reduce vulnerability to volatility in commodities, as well as to enhance activities in developing countries to improve access to markets and the reliability of supply, enhance diversification and the addition of value, improve the competitiveness of commodities, strengthen the market chain, improve market structures, broaden the export base and ensure the effective participation of all stakeholders, on the basis of a shared understanding of the contribution of commodities to sustainable development;

Stresses that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and its partners, in the spirit of inter-agency cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships, within their respective mandates, should continue to engage actively in collaborative research and analysis of the commodity problematique and related capacity- and consensus-building activities, with a view to providing regular analysis and policy advice relevant to the sustainable development of commodity-dependent developing countries, particularly low-income countries;

Emphasizes the importance of facilitating accession to the World Trade Organization, particularly for commodity-dependent developing countries, in full compliance with its rules;

Underlines the urgent need for the provision of and access to trade finance to commodity-dependent developing countries, given the tightened access to all types of credit and noting debt sustainability;

Welcomes the commitment to redouble efforts to substantially reduce illicit financial flows by 2030, with a view to eventually eliminating them;

Stresses that revenues from commodity production and exports remain critical for developing countries, in particular in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, given that developing countries need to mobilize resources in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and that commodity prices have been decreasing since 2011, which has put pressure on government budgets in developing countries, notes with concern the fall in commodity prices despite their increase in 2016, and recognizes with concern that African countries, the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States face particular challenges as lower commodity prices threaten the sustainable growth and the debt positions of such countries, and therefore calls upon those Member States to diversify their economies in order to achieve economic growth and the Sustainable Development Goals;

Decides to hold a one-off one-day informal interactive dialogue of the General Assembly on commodity markets during the first half of 2019 to review world commodity trends and prospects, particularly in commodity-dependent countries, on a date and in a format to be decided by the President of the General Assembly;

Calls upon all relevant bodies, agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system and other relevant intergovernmental, global, regional and subregional organizations, in particular the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and all relevant international financial and economic institutions, within their respective mandates, to continue to address the issue of the low industrialization and diversification of the economies of some commodity-dependent developing countries in relation to the capacity of Member States to achieve all the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session, in collaboration with the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, a report on the implementation of the present resolution, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-fourth session, under the item entitled “Macroeconomic policy questions”, the sub-item entitled “Commodities”.

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