The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UNCTAD15 Barbados press conference 05 October Evening CONTINUITY
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7:34
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MP4
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558.4 MB
Building on the theme of the UNCTAD14 conference, which emphasized the need to move from decision to action, UNCTAD's 15th quadrennial conference, UNCTAD15, seeks a concrete decade of action in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. The conference is focused on reducing inequality and vulnerability by ensuring trade works for all and that development remains high on the global agenda. The theme, “From inequality and vulnerability to prosperity for all”, is a clarion call to work to fix the fractures across the world in favour of prosperity for all. UNCTAD15 takes place online, hosted by Barbados, from 3 to 7 October, 2021.
Teleprompter
Good morning, Good afternoon.
Welcome to today's press briefing from Barbados, site of the 15th session of the United Conference on Trade and Development on Ted 15.
From here, we will provide daily briefing on the conference debates and state of the negotiation as well as present events and agreement signed on the negotiation in Geneva.
We are joined by Minister Sandra Husbands, Minister of of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Barbados, representing the Prime Minister Motley in Geneva.
Also, a site for Ontad 15 who will give us a brief update on our negotiations are proceeding.
Minister Husband, the floor is yours.
Thank you very much and greetings from Geneva.
Greetings to all of the people in Barbados and all the people across the world who will be watching this broadcast this evening.
I really want to express first of all, my thanks for the tremendous work that is taking place here in Geneva.
At UNCTAD, many ambassadors and officials and experts are involved in the negotiations to help us arrive at a outcomes document that is called the Bridgetown Covenant.
Now the Bridgetown Covenant will guide the work of Aunt Tad over the next few years.
Their work programme.
In it we've been able to include things that are of great importance to developing countries, the issues that are relevant to us, the information that we need in order to be able to plan better and to advocate better for the benefit of our citizens.
And so the Bridgetown Covenant is proceeding quite well.
Today we had meetings.
This was held with the extended Bureau.
I chaired that meeting this morning and it was very promising and we're looking forward to getting results fairly soon.
That was soon followed by a meeting of the, I think it's a community of the whole, the committee of the whole.
Yes.
And this is where the coordinators from the various groupings got together to be able to hammer out more in relation to the outcomes document, which is our Bridgetown Covenant.
Accompanying that particular negotiation is the political declaration.
The political declaration is known as the Spirit of Spikestown, and the Spirit of Spikestone provides us with the opportunity to share generally about a number of things that we believe are of critical importance for the world to pay great attention to.
And those negotiations, as I'm sitting here, it's about 8:30 in the 7:30 in the evening, and those negotiations are going on all like now where people are sitting very busy trying to bring to conclusion a political declaration that represents us all.
So the negotiations are going well.
We're working hard.
We're anticipating that we will be able to arrive at positive conclusions that will be for the benefit of all developing countries and their peoples.
Thank you.
Thank you, Minister.
It's a pleasure to have you with us here in Barbados virtually Now going on.
For those of you that were in the room with us a few minutes ago, you were you were able to witness the signing of ONTAD and Barbados of an agreement worth 2.5 million to facilitate the trade to the implementation of an electronic single window system with the assistance of the ONTAD Flexion technical assistance called Automated system for Custom data, also called called Asikuda programme.
It took place right here and we heard from our Secretary General Miss Greenspan as well as from Minister is Honourable Mr Simon of of Freedom Small Medium Enterprises.
Asikuda is 1 of Ongtad's largest corporation programmes used by around 100 countries and territories around the world to improve customs and the efficiency with which governments can collect revenues, clear goods from for release at the border and generate statistical trade to improve international trade flows.
The single window will make it easier for traders, producers, small, medium and large companies and in Barbados importing and exporting goods to comply with the requirement of Barbados Customs and other government agencies by using an an electronic one stop shop.
It will also increase transparency by helping to ensure clearance status data is accurate, reliable and available online.
Finally, His Excellency Mr Uhuru Kenyatta arrived in Barbados today to participate in Ontad 15 and to do to do the handover ceremony of the Presidency of the Conference on Trade and Development to Prime Minister Motley of Barbados until the next conference on in Ontad 16.
Today, the World leader dialogue continued with the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, the United Nation **** Commissioner for Human Right and Executive Director of Oxfam International.
They call for the recognition of COVID-19 vaccine as a public good using world urging world leaders in attendance to support the UN Secretary General's call for global vaccination plan to ensure vaccines reach 70% of the world population by the first half of 2022.
This implies sharing health expertise, data, knowledge, treatment and flexibility in trade agreements to ensure policy space in keeping with the right to help and sharing the benefit of scientific progress with all.
After which Ontad Secretary General Rebecca Greenspan, the President of the Republic of Kenya, Uuru Kenyatta, the President of Guyana, the Vice President of the Dominican Republic, the Executive Secretary of the United Nation Economic Commission for Africa, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nation Programme on HIV AIDS and the President of the Inter American Bank discussed the current multilateral system and international corporation calling for a strong more networked multilateralism that work for all country regardless of their size.
We invite you to follow these debates tomorrow that will be continuing with three multi stakeholder dialogue.
I remind media that content is shared every day and upload in the official Ontel 15 website, which we invite you to visit to that site.
You may register and address question to all speaker as the these debates take place live.
Thank you very much.
And the next media briefing will take place right here at 7:15 AM local time tomorrow.
Thank you.