The surge in demand for critical energy transition minerals amid the climate emergency underscores the urgent need for sustainable practices and global collaboration to address commodity dependence and achieve net-zero emission targets by 2030.

Despite record levels in 2022, the $4 billion drop in Official Development Assistance for developing countries underscores a critical gap in meeting Sustainable Development Goal 17 targets, particularly affecting the world's least developed nations.

Climate change-induced cocoa price hikes are affecting chocolate lovers globally, highlighting the urgent need for climate action.

UNCTAD's Global Trade Update emphasizes the resilience of international trade amid challenges, projecting growth opportunities and a rebound in 2024, especially in sectors like transportation equipment and electric vehicles.

Remittances, totaling over $830 billion globally, serve as a lifeline for countless families in developing nations, making substantial contributions to poverty alleviation. These funds have a direct and positive impact on household incomes, empowering recipients to fulfill basic necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare. By easing financial burdens and enhancing living standards, remittances play a pivotal role in lifting families out of poverty and building economic resilience within communities.

The importance of remittances in developing countries is underscored by UNCTAD's economist Bruno Antunes, as highlighted in the Weekly Tradecast episode. 

Photo Credit: FIDA

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is calling for more awareness raising and regulatory frameworks to ensure AI benefits everyone. While AI holds promise for personalizing products and services and optimizing customer support, there are concerns over fair, responsible and ethical use of AI. Currently, global tech giants control most of the data flows and revenues from digital services, posing a threat to fair competition and aggravating existing technology divides. Public policies need to guide innovation and the design of AI to mitigate human biases and ensure that AI-powered goods and services reach vulnerable populations.

UNCTAD and WHO introduce a novel framework unveiling trends and health implications of processed food trade, crucial for promoting nutritious diets and enhancing food security worldwide.

Mali's pharmaceutical registry digitization effort aims to reduce the approval time for vital medicines and vaccines from 18 to three months, revolutionizing the country's healthcare system.

UNCTAD has called for urgent reforms to the global debt architecture in response to the alarming increase in developing countries' external sovereign debt.

UNCTAD has raised profound concerns over escalating disruptions to global trade, citing recent attacks on ships in the Red Sea, geopolitical tensions impacting shipping in the Black Sea, and the effects of climate change on the Panama Canal.

This episode of The Weekly Tradecast looks at the impact of the Israel-Gaza crisis on the Palestinian economy with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) economist Rami Alazzeh. Since the deadly assault by Hamas militants on October 7, Israel's military response has destroyed more than 37,000 buildings and displaced most of the 2.3 million people in the tiny enclave. With so much destruction, UNCTAD says in a new report that rebuilding Gaza will be all the more difficult given the already dire state of the economy from Israel’s decades-long blockade.

The current Israeli military operation in Gaza will take tens of billions of dollars and many decades to reverse, according to a new report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). According to the report, the Israeli offensive greatly accelerated the contraction of Gaza's economy, resulting in a 24% contraction of GDP and a 26.1% drop in GDP per capita for the entire year. In addition, has displaced 85% of Gaza's population, halting economic activities and further worsening poverty and unemployment. The recovery of Gaza's economy from the current military operation will demand a financial commitment several times more than the $3.9 billion that resulted from the 2014 military operation in Gaza and will require a concerted international effort to restore pre-conflict socioeconomic conditions.

The 2023 Global Investment Trends Monitor by UNCTAD reported a 3% growth in global foreign direct investment (FDI), primarily driven by European "conduit" economies; however, excluding these economies revealed an 18% decline in global FDI flows, indicating mixed results for sustainable development investment.

UNCTAD report emphasizes the need to foster domestic value-addition to critical minerals in producing developing countries to increase supply chains resilience, and sustainability as evidenced in Democratic Republic of Congo.

New data released by UNCTAD highlights the limitations of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as an all-encompassing metric for progress, underscoring that higher economic output doesn’t equate to more inclusive and sustainable growth.