International Trade and Development

A/RES/76/190View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 18aInternational trade and development, published in 2021.

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?

4 topics

Development International Trade Multilateral Trade Negotiations Trade Facilitation

What does this mandate say?

17 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Trade and Development Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the note by the Secretary-General;

Reaffirms that international trade is an engine for inclusive growth and poverty eradication and that it contributes to the promotion of sustainable development, structural transformation and industrialization, particularly in developing countries;

Reiterates that States will not be able to achieve the ambitious Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development without a revitalized and enhanced global partnership and comparably ambitious means of implementation, and that a revitalized global partnership will facilitate an intensive global engagement in support of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, bringing together Governments, civil society, the private sector, the United Nations system and other actors and mobilizing all available resources;

Reaffirms the commitments made through the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in, inter alia, international trade as an important action area for sustainable development;

Notes with concern that the World Trade Organization is increasingly affected by insufficient progress in multilateral trade negotiations and that it is imperative for the World Trade Organization to address issues that are at the heart of current problems in international trade, and recognizes in this regard the need to strengthen the World Trade Organization, with a view to ensuring the continued viability and effectiveness of its dispute settlement, negotiating and monitoring functions;

Recommits firmly to promoting a universal, rules-based, open, transparent, predictable, inclusive, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization, as well as meaningful trade liberalization;

Emphasizes the urgent need to combat protectionism in all its forms and to rectify any trade-distorting measures that are inconsistent with World Trade Organization rules, recognizing the right of countries, in particular developing countries, to fully utilize flexibilities consistent with their World Trade Organization commitments and obligations, and also emphasizes that the work of the World Trade Organization shall maintain development at its centre, with provisions for special and differential treatment remaining integral;

Also emphasizes the critical need for globally coordinated actions to ensure timely, affordable and equitable distribution of and access for all to safe, quality, effective and affordable COVID-19 vaccines and to ensure that emergency trade measures are targeted, proportionate, transparent and temporary, do not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disruptions to global supply chains and are consistent with World Trade Organization rules, calls for enhancing the capacity of the multilateral trading system to increase pandemic and disaster preparedness and resilience through a multifaceted response, including by strengthening the resilience of global supply chains, including short-term measures such as trade facilitation, transparency and restraint in relation to export restrictions on vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics supplies, as well as the rapid scaling up and expansion of vaccine production globally, including in developing countries, through appropriate dissemination of technology and know-how in accordance with World Trade Organization rules, for example, licensing, using Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) flexibilities if necessary, sharing knowledge and data related to COVID-19 health technologies and supporting ongoing discussion at the World Trade Organization on how the multilateral rules-based trade system can contribute to enhancing access to equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as ensuring the normal functioning of open markets and global supply chain connectivity and cross-border travel for essential purposes, and calls upon Member States to highlight the critical role of digital technologies in sustaining business continuity and supply chains throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and to strengthen cooperation between the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and other trade-related organizations and forums, including the World Trade Organization, as well as to promote further economic integration through regional trade agreements to ensure faster trade recovery and development as an important source of world economic growth, and in this regard continue to support the operationalization of the African Continental Free Trade Area;

Urges the international community to adopt urgent and effective measures to eliminate the use of unilateral economic, financial or trade measures that are not authorized by relevant organs of the United Nations, that are inconsistent with the principles of international law or the Charter of the United Nations or that contravene the basic principles of the multilateral trading system and that affect, in particular, but not exclusively, developing countries;

Calls upon all members of the World Trade Organization to urgently conclude negotiations on fisheries subsidies by the conclusion of the twelfth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, consistent with the decision of its eleventh Ministerial Conference and with a view to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals;

Recognizes the importance of preventing trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets and of contributing to the facilitation of market access for products from developing countries, in accordance with World Trade Organization commitments;

Underlines the importance of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation annexed to the Protocol amending the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization in improving transparency, expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit, and thereby reducing trade costs, and in this regard encourages its full and effective implementation, including through enhanced support towards its implementation;

Welcomes the convening of the fifteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in Bridgetown, from 3 to 7 October 2021, under the theme “From inequality and vulnerability to prosperity for all”, and also welcomes the adoption of its outcome document entitled “Bridgetown Covenant”;

Also welcomes the convening of the twelfth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, from 30 November to 3 December 2021 in Geneva, under the presidency of the Government of Kazakhstan;

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 in contributing to supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda;

Reaffirms the commitment at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind and commit to taking more tangible steps to support people in vulnerable situations and the most vulnerable countries and to reach the furthest behind first;

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 seventy-seventh session a report on the implementation of the present resolution and on developments in the international trading system, including concrete recommendations to accelerate the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in this regard, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-seventh session, under the item entitled “Macroeconomic policy questions”, the sub-item entitled “International trade and development”.

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