THREE NEW COMMISSIONS FORMED BY UNCTAD

8:05 AM Jul 15, 1996

THREE NEW COMMISSIONS FORMED BY UNCTAD
Geneva, 15 Jul (TWN) -- The UNCTAD Trade and Development Board, at an executive session last week, the first formal gathering since the UNCTAD-IX at Midrand in South Africa, has established three subsidiary Commissions and has agreed upon the provisional agenda for their first sessions.

At the Executive Session, chaired by Amb. Jacobs S. Selebi of South Africa, the Board also approved the draft provisional agenda of its annual meeting to take place from 7-18 October. During this annual meeting, ministers, corporate executives and heads of intergovernmental bodies will meet for a one-day informal session on 10 October to discuss investment and development issues.

The first session of the Commission on Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities will be divided into two parts:

* the first part scheduled for early November will focus on the impact of the Uruguay Round Agreements on development and on ways of enhancing capacities for participation in the multilateral trading system.

* the second part scheduled for mid February will analyse progress and identify outstanding issues, in the integration of trade, environment and development since the Rio Conference. In this context, the UNCTAD secretariat has also been asked to prepare an analytical paper on the environment aspects of trade.

In addition, in relation to this Commission, the Board has scheduled an executive session in the first quarter of 1997 to discuss the issues arising from the outcome of the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Singapore.

The Commission on Investment, Technology and related Financial Issues has scheduled its first session for 18-22 November and will address two major topics in its provisional agenda:

* interaction between investment and trade and its impact on development and;

* issues related to competition law of particular relevance to development.

The Commission on Enterprise, Business Facilitation and Development is tentatively scheduled for 20-24 January 1997. Its focus will be on enterprise development strategy and services infrastructure for development, including on trade efficiency assessment.

The high-level meeting of the Board on 10 October, is to focus on three topics:

* trends, detriments and impediments in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and policy implications;

* inter-relationships between investment, trade and technology; and

* review of existing FDI agreements and analysis of issues relevant to a possible multilateral framework on investment and implications for development.

Further, the Board in its annual discussions on interdependence will be considering the lessons from the East Asian development experience in the context of rethinking development strategies.

It will also review the implementation of the Programme of Action for LDCs for the 1990s and also UNCTAD's role in the implementation of the UN system-wide Special Initiative on Africa.

In their general closing statements, all the regional groups emphasised the importance of speedy and effective implementation of the decisions outlined in the Midrand Declaration and a Partnership for Growth and Development.

Patrick Fanning of Ireland on behalf of the European Union, said that priority items for the three new Commissions must be geared towards the special needs of developing countries, of LDCs in particular and be action-oriented.

The Cuban Ambassador stressed the importance that the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries attached to technical assistance provided by the secretariat.

The Kenyan Ambassador cited the fact that economic growth in Africa lagged behind population growth to the extent that real incomes had not improved, therefore the Board at its first regular meeting in October should address issues of particular importance to Africa.

The far reaching economic reform measures taken by most African countries had not been matched by increased FDI. The Ambassador added that participating ministers and corporate executives at the high-level meeting must be drawn on the basis of geographical distribution, representative of the UNCTAD membership.