International Trade and Development

A/RES/68/199View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 17a International trade and development, published in 2014.

What other versions does this mandate have?

33 versions · 1994–2025

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

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/121	International trade and development	4,299	75%Compare
2024	A/RES/79/195	International trade and development	3,895	73%Compare
2023	A/RES/78/134	International trade and development	3,332	85%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/151	International trade and development	3,008	50%Compare
2022	A/RES/76/190	International trade and development	2,140	76%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

16 reports · 2003–2024

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2024	A/79/256	New trade dynamics and industrial policies : realizing inclusive trade gains report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/78/134
2020	A/75/225	International trade and development report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/74/201
2019	A/74/221	International trade and development report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/73/219
2017	A/72/274	International trade and development report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/71/214
2016	A/71/275	International trade and development report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/70/187

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 subjects

International Trade Landlocked Developing Countries Least Developed Countries Multilateral Trade Negotiations South-South Trade Sustainable Development Technical Cooperation Trade Agreements Trade Policy

What’s in this document?

25 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Trade and Development Board¹³ and the report of the Secretary-General;¹⁴

¹³A/68/15 (Part I and Corr.1 and Add.1, Part II and Corr.1 and Parts III and IV).

¹⁴A/68/205.

Reaffirms that international trade is an engine for development and sustained economic growth, and also reaffirms the critical role that a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system, as well as meaningful trade liberalization, can play in stimulating economic growth and development worldwide, thereby benefiting all countries at all stages of development;

Emphasizes the need to resist protectionist tendencies 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;

Expresses serious concern at the lack of progress in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations, reiterates the call for the necessary flexibility and political will in order to break the current impasse in the negotiations, and in this regard calls for a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive 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 adopted by the World Trade Organization in 2005;

Recognizes the importance of the decisions of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, held in Geneva from 15 to 17 December 2011, including the decision to allow members of the World Trade Organization to provide preferential treatment to services and suppliers from the least developed countries;

Acknowledges that trade has an important role in ensuring the sustainable economic development of the least developed countries and that the international trade architecture should continue to be supportive of and responsive to the special needs and priorities of the least developed countries;

Welcomes the appointment of the Director General of the World Trade Organization;

Also welcomes the appointment of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development;

Further welcomes the convening of the Ninth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, in Bali, Indonesia, from 3 to 7 December 2013, and stresses the need for a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and development-oriented outcome;

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 and encourages developed countries, and developing countries declaring themselves in a position to do so, to take steps towards the goal of realizing the 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;

Emphasizes the full, timely and effective implementation of the relevant provisions of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011–2020;¹⁵

¹⁵Report of the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Istanbul, Turkey, 9–13 May 2011 (A/CONF.219/7), chap. II.

Reaffirms the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on Measures Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least Developed and Net Food-importing Developing Countries;

Stresses the need to remove food export restrictions and extraordinary taxes on food purchased for non-commercial, humanitarian purposes by the World Food Programme and to not impose them in the future;

Also stresses the need to increase investment from all sources in agriculture and rural development, including through the provision of technical and financial assistance, as appropriate, to the least developed and net food-importing developing countries, with a view to increasing their agricultural productivity and infrastructure;

Recognizes the particular challenges that may be faced by small, vulnerable economies to fully benefit from the multilateral trading system in a manner commensurate with their special circumstances, and in this regard encourages progress in the implementation of the World Trade Organization work programme on small economies, as mandated in the 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration and the 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration, which supports their efforts towards sustainable development;

Stresses the need to identify and develop strategies to expand trade opportunities for women producers and facilitate the active participation of women in national, regional and global trade decision-making structures and processes, thereby ensuring that women- and men-owned businesses and farms have equal opportunities in markets;

Reaffirms the commitment to address 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,¹⁶ 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;¹⁷

¹⁶Report of the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and Donor Countries and International Financial and Development Institutions on Transit Transport Cooperation, Almaty, Kazakhstan, 28 and 29 August 2003 (A/CONF.202/3), annex I.

¹⁷Resolution 63/2.

Expresses concern about the adoption of unilateral actions that are not consistent with the rules of the World Trade Organization, harm the exports of all countries, in particular those of developing countries, and have a considerable bearing on the ongoing World Trade Organization negotiations and on the achievement and further enhancement of the development dimension of the trade negotiations;

Notes the holding in Geneva from 8 to 10 July 2013 of the Fourth Global Review of Aid for Trade, aimed at reviewing progress achieved and identifying additional measures needed to support developing and least developed countries in building their supply and export capacities, and stresses the need to implement the aid-for-trade commitments, with sufficient focus on results and impact;

Recognizes that South-South trade should be strengthened, notes that enhanced market access between developing countries can play a positive role in stimulating South-South trade, and in this regard, inter alia, takes note of the conclusion of the third round of the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries, by the adoption, on 15 December 2010, of the São Paulo Round Protocol;

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, invites the Conference to continue working to enhance its contribution in its three major pillars, namely, consensus-building, research and policy analysis and technical assistance, and calls upon the international community to work towards the strengthening of the Conference;

Invites the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to continue, in accordance with its mandate, to monitor and assess the evolution of the international trading system and of trends in international trade from a development perspective, and in particular to analyse issues of concern to developing countries, placing greater emphasis on practical solutions, to undertake policy analysis, including from a gender perspective, to work with all relevant stakeholders and to support developing countries in building productive national capacities and international competitiveness, including through technical assistance activities;

Recognizes the role of the Enhanced Integrated Framework for Trade-related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries;

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-ninth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution and developments in the multilateral trading system, including their impact on women and men, 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.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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