International Trade and Development

A/RES/75/203View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 17a International trade and development, published in 2020.

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?

4 subjects

Development International Trade Multilateral Trade Negotiations Trade Facilitation

What’s in this document?

16 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Trade and Development Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development² and the note by the Secretary-General;³

²A/75/15 (Part I).

³A/75/225.

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 Development⁴ 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;

⁴Resolution 70/1.

Reaffirms the commitments made through the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development⁵ in, inter alia, international trade as an important action area for sustainable development;

⁵Resolution 69/313, annex.

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 that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal functioning of open markets, global supply chain connectivity and the flow of essential goods and services, and that these disruptions hinder the fight against poverty, hunger and inequality, ultimately undermining efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda, reaffirms that emergency measures must be targeted, proportionate, transparent and temporary, that they must not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disruption to global supply chains, and that they must be consistent with World Trade Organization rules, and calls upon Member States to reaffirm the critical importance of connected global supply chains in ensuring the unimpeded flow of vital medical and food supplies and other essential goods and services across borders, by air, by land and by sea, and to encourage cooperation to facilitate cross-border travel of persons for essential purposes without undermining efforts to prevent the spread of the virus, highlights, in this regard, the critical role of digital technologies in sustaining business continuity and supply chains throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and to strengthen cooperation among the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and other trade-related organizations and forums, 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 welcomes the Agreement Establishing 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 in 2020, consistent with the decision of the eleventh Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization⁶ and with a view to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals;

⁶WT/MIN(17)/64-WT/L/1031 of 13 December 2017.

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;

Looks forward to the convening of the fifteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Barbados from 25 to 30 April 2021;

Welcomes the proposal to convene the twelfth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in June 2021, looks forward to achieving positive outcomes in a balanced, inclusive and transparent way, and expresses its appreciation to the Government of Kazakhstan for offering to host the meeting;

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-sixth 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-sixth session, under the item entitled “Macroeconomic policy questions”, the sub-item entitled “International trade and development”.

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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