Yearbook of the United Nations, 2009. Part 3, Economic and social questions. Chapter 4, International trade, finance and transport

Abstract

In 2009, the work of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN system on international trade, finance and transport dealt mainly with the global economic and financial crisis that began the previous year. During the crisis, world trade volume contracted by almost 13 per cent. The severe decline was attributed mainly to the financial crisis, which caused a free fall of 30 to 50 per cent in world trade volumes from the end of 2008 up to the second quarter of 2009, with Asian exporters being hit hardest. World trade rebounded somewhat thereafter, but recovery was fragile. In response to the crisis, which the Secretary-General called the worst of its kind since the founding of the United Nations, the General Assembly convened, at the highest level, the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development in New York in June. The Conference considered measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis on development and the role of the United Nations in reforming the international financial and economic system. The Conference adopted an outcome document in which heads of State and Government committed to work in solidarity on a coordinated and comprehensive global response to the crisis through a number of actions outlined in the document. In July, the Assembly endorsed the outcome document and established an ad hoc open-ended working group to follow up on the issues contained therein. In April, the high-level meeting between the Economic and Social Council and the Bretton Woods institutions (the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and UNCTAD discussed coherence, coordination and cooperation in the context of the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development, focusing on addressing the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on development and strengthening the intergovernmental inclusive process to carry out the financing for development follow-up. The Trade and Development Board, the governing body of UNCTAD, in September, adopted agreed conclusions on the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001–2010 and on economic development in Africa. It also adopted a decision on UNCTAD technical cooperation activities.