What is the Full Form of UNCTAD

UNCTAD: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

United Nations is the World's universal organization, which is at the forefront to address global issues. It is an intergovernmental organization whose main function is to maintain international security and world peace. Also, it tries to develop friendly relations among states and cooperation.

United Nations is the World's largest and most accountable international organization. Under the purview of the United Nations, numerous other international organizations exist, such as UNESCO, UNICEF, UNCTAD, etc.

What is UNCTAD?

UNCTAD stands for United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), founded in 1964. It is an intergovernmental organization whose main function is to promote developing nations' interest in world trade and development.

UNCTAD's main function is to assist developing countries and maximize their trade, investment, and development opportunities. It also integrates the developing nations with the world economy. It is under the United Nations secretariat and deals with trade, investment, and development issues. In 1964 United Nations General Assembly established UNCTAD; UNCTAD submitted its reports to UN General Assembly and United Nations Economic and Social Council.

The primary aim of UNCTAD is to formulate policies to assist all aspects of development, trade, finance, and technology. The permanent secretariat of UNCTAD is situated in Geneva. The conference of UNCTAD, under which all the policies are decided and finalized, takes place in Geneva, and the conference takes place once in four years.

The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is one of the principal achievements of UNCTAD. A General System of Preferences is a preferential tariff reduction on various products.

The first UNCTAD conference occurred in 1964 in Geneva, and the second in Delhi in 1964. Till now, a total of 15 conferences of UNCTAD have taken place throughout the World. The fifteenth conference will be held virtually in 2021 at Bridgetown (Barbados). At present, 195 countries are members of UNCTAD. Apart from countries, numerous NGOs; agencies also participated in the UNCTAD.

Objectives of UNCTAD:

The main priority of UNCTAD is formulating policies on various trade, investment, and development issues. Its main objectives are -

1. UNCTAD helps to address macro-level development challenges.
2. It helps the country's integration into the international trading system.
3. UNCTAD tried to diversify the economies and engaged them in numerous other sectors, not only on commodities.
4. It helps developing nations attract more investment opportunities and try to create business-friendly nations.
5. Easy access to new and developing technologies.
6. Innovation and entrepreneurship promotion.
7. Speedy flow of goods across boundaries.
8. Climate change and mitigation, the wise use of natural resources.
9. Protection of consumer rights
10. It helps local firms to achieve international character.

Functions and Activities of UNCTAD:

There are numerous functions of UNCTAD which contributed to making UNCTAD the global organization; some of the main functions of UNCTAD are -

1. Accelerating Economic Development: This is done by promoting international trade ties between countries in the developing phase and countries regarded as developed.
2. Policy Formulation: The main objective of UNCTAD is the policy and principle formation for international trade and issues related to economic development problems.
3. Policy Implementations: UNCTAD makes several proposals for the effective implementation of policies and proposals.
4. Negotiations of trade agreements.
5. Reviewer: UNCTAD, in the international trade domain, also reviews other UN organizations and their works to enhance cooperation between UNCTAD and other organizations.
6. Keep records of several trade-related documents and agreements which are signed between the member nations.

Membership of UNCTAD:

At Present, there are 195 members in the UNCTAD; their membership is divided into four lists and the list of members to be assigned.

List A- It consists of 99 members presently, some of them are India, China, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Bhutan, etc

List B- It contains 32 members such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the United States, etc

List C- It has 33 members, and these are Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba etc.

List D- It has 24 members such as Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan etc.

Countries which are not assigned membership are Tuvalu, Kiribati, South Sudan, Tajikistan, and Nauru.

Reports Published by UNCTAD

UNCTAD releases numerous reports that benefit the countries in their policy formulation and enhancing cooperation with other nations. Some of them are-

1. Trade and Development Report
2. Trade and Environment Review
3. World Investment Report
4. Economic Development in Africa Report
5. The Least Developed Countries Report
6. Digital Economy Report, it is initially known as Information Economy Report
7. Technology and Innovation Report etc.