May 02

The State Of Commodity Dependence 2012. UNCTAD

Development Trade Trackbacks (0)
The commodity problematique continues to be of major concern in the twenty-first century, as the commodity sector constitutes the key economic activity in most Commodity-Dependent Developing Countries in terms of foreign exchange earning, fiscal revenues, income growth, employment creation and livelihood sustenance for over 2 billion people dependent on the agricultural sector.

 Commodities and Development Report, 2012

State of Commodity Dependence cover

The Special Unit on Commodities of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), works as an autonomous unit on commodities. The Unit recently released several studies, including:

Commodities and Development Report 2012

Each edition of this flagship report contains a comprehensive, yet accessible, discussion of a selected topic of major relevance to policy-makers on commodity trade and development in Commodity Dependent Developing Countries.

The 2012 issue of the UCDR is analytical, topical and provides many interesting insights resulting from an in-depth analysis of how different commodities or commodity groups have been affected over the last decade by the commodity price boom, the ensuing crisis, and the emerging recovery; and what the implications are in terms of commodity-based development.

The first part of the 2012 report - Overview - has been released in English.

The State of Commodity Dependence 2012

This publication aims to provide an individual country overview of the commodity-related situation of 154 developing countries.It also contains graphs which present a regional and global perspective of commodity dependence in the developing world over the period 2009–2010. It is available in English.

Resources

From UN Pulse

February 20

Trade-Related Capacity Building For Academia In African Least Developed Countries

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UNCTAD has released a new report on trade-related capacity building in least developing countries in Africa.This study is a contribution to the reflection on trade-related capacity building (TRCB) in the specific context of the least developed countries (LDCs) in Africa, with a focus on the role of academia, both as beneficiaries and as providers of such capacity-building services. This study maps the TRCB needs of these countries, analyzes the various initiatives and actors involved, with a particular focus on the UNCTAD Virtual Institute, and proposes some considerations for future interventions in TRCB in African LDCs. UN Pulse: Permanent Link: Trade-Related Capacity building for academia In African Least Developed Countries

January 12

Market Access, Transparency And Fairness In Global Trade. ITC

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EXPORT IMPACT FOR GOOD, 2010

This new International Trade Centre report on market access, transparency and fairness in global trade concludes that ‘market access begins at home’. It argues that further reducing barriers to trade between developing countries needs to be an essential part of the way forward. The report is the first of an annual series on market access issues and focuses on reducing global poverty by improving market entry and trade transparency for developing countries. In this report, ITC has applied a new methodology offering more accurate estimates of global poverty distribution and the impact of export growth on poverty.

June 15

ECA: New Report On Assessing Regional Integration In Africa

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ECA announces the launch of a new report titled, Enhancing intra-African trade.The report was launched during the annual meetings of the African Development Bank,(AfDB) as a side event organized under the umbrella of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CodA). The launch took the form of a high level policy discussion led by the Chair of the Board of CodA and former President of Botswana, Mr. Festus Mogae. The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Mr. Jean Ping; and the President of the African Development Bank (ADfB) Mr. Donald Kaberuka; attended the launching ceremony. UN Pulse: Permanent Link: ECA: New Report on Assessing Regional Integration in Africa
February 10

Trade And Environmental Review 2009/2010 UNCTAD Report.

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The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), has issued the Trade and Environment Review 2009/2010 ). This report focuses on the 140 plus low-income and least developed countries, which have not caused the economic, financial, climate and food crises. According to this report, these countries account, for less than 10% of energy-related GHG emissions of all developing countries, yet have to bear the full brunt of these crises.

From UN Pulse  Permanent Link: Trade and Environmental Review 2009/2010 UNCTAD Report.

November 16

World Trade Indicators (WTI). World Bank

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World trade indicators
World Trade Indicators (WTI) is produced by the World Bank as part of their trade program. It is an interactive tool designed to benchmark a country’s trade policy and institutions and help policy makers, advisers, and analysts’ identify the main border and behind-the border constraints to trade integration. It is organized in five thematic categories, trade policy, external environment, institutional environment, trade facilitation and trade outcome. Each category contains a main indicator and other reference indicators. Countries’ trade performance can be examined individually as well as in relation to other countries or country groupings, including by membership of trade agreements. Country Briefs and Trade at-a-Glance (TAAG) tables are also are provided. A user guide, overview report, indicator definitions and information on data sources is also provided. Intute.ac.uk
http://go.worldbank.org/3Q2ER38J50
July 17

World Trade Report 2008

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World Trade Organization (WTO) released World Trade Report 2008 entitled Trade in a Globalizing World (full text, 2.19 MB). The Report addresses gains from international trade and challenges of higher levels of integration. It also discusses globalization, what drives it, what benefits does it bring, what challenges does it pose and what role does trade play in this world of ever-growing interdependency.

Previous world trade reports.

UN Pulse Permanent Link: World Trade Report 2008
May 29

Trading Nature (PDF; 3 MB) WWF

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Trading Nature (PDF; 3 MB)
Source: World Wildlife Fund
From press release:

Well-managed wildlife trade has the potential to be even more of a key development tool for the world’s poor, finds a new report by the wildlife trade monitoring network, TRAFFIC, and WWF.

Trading Nature: the contribution of wildlife trade management to sustainable livelihoods and the Millennium Development Goals shows that a key development advantage of wildlife trade is the opportunities it offers to the very poor and the level of involvement by local communities. But many of the benefits are threatened when illegal trade is allowed to flourish.

Excluding the products of the commercial timber and fisheries industries, the wildlife products covered in the report include medicines, food, clothing, ornaments, furnishings, pets, ornamental plants, zoological and botanical display, research, manufacturing and construction materials. As well as contributing to the incomes of the poor, many also contribute directly to their housing, health and other needs.

The report finds that well-managed, legal and sustainable trade can have a significant impact on all eight of the Millennium Development Goals, the globally agreed roadmap which lay out targets in development assistance and poverty reduction.

March 20

Assuring Development Gains And Poverty Reduction From Trade

Poverty Development UNCTAD Trade Trackbacks (0)

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has issued a new publication entitled, Assuring development gains and poverty reduction from trade: the labour mobility and skills trade dimension (full text, pdf, 515 KB, symbol: UNCTAD/DITC/TNCD/2007/8). The paper examines the impact of global labour movement on trade, development and poverty reduction and asks how temporary labour mobility can be better managed to improve people´s lives and to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Permanent Link: Assuring development gains and poverty reduction from trade UN Pulse
January 14

Export Diversification In Developing Countries

Economic conditions and policy World Bank Trade Trackbacks (0)

Patterns of export diversification in developing countries : intensive and extensive margins
Source: World Bank Policy Research Working Papers

This paper uses highly disaggregated trade data to investigate geographic and product diversification patterns across a group of developing nations for the period from 1990 to 2005. The econometric investigation shows that the gravity equation fits the observed differences in diversification across nations. The analysis shows that exports at the intensive margin account for the most important share of overall trade growth. At the extensive margin, geographic diversification is more important than product diversification, especially for developing countries. Taking part in free trade agreements, thereby reducing trade costs, and trading with countries in the North are also found to have positive impacts on export diversification for developing countries.

+ Full Paper (PDF; 249 KB)

Docuticker

January 03

International Trade Statistics, 2007. WTO

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The World Trade Organization (WTO) has issued International Trade Statistics 2007 (full text, pdf, 8.43 MB). The report provides statistics on trade in merchandise and commercial services; data tables are available in Excel and pdf formats.

UN Pulse:  

Permanent Link: International Trade Statistics, 2007
November 07

Developing Countries In International Trade 2007 - Trade And Development Index. UNCTAD

Development UNCTAD Trade Trackbacks (0)

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has launched the second installment of its Developing Countries in International Trade 2007 - Trade and Development Index (TDI). The TDI is a comprehensive tool that help governments, especially those struggling with poverty and sluggish development, to determine what to do to participate more effectively in the global economy and to benefit from world trade to speed up national economic growth, create jobs and improve general well-being. A new feature of this year´s edition is a series of country profiles for each of the 123 countries represented in the analysis.

UN Pulse  Permanent Link: 2007 Trade and Development Index
September 07

Trade And Development Report 2007: Regional Cooperation For Development

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The Trade and Development Report 2007, subtitled Regional cooperation for development, recommends that developing countries should strengthen regional cooperation with other developing countries, but proceed carefully with regard to North-South bilateral or regional preferential trade agreements. Such agreements may offer gains in terms of market access and higher foreign direct investment, but they can also limit national policy space, which can play an important role in the medium- and long-term growth of competitive industries. Download the report in full (pdf, 4366KB) or in parts from the UNCTAD web site. UN Pulse Permanent Link: Trade and Development Report 2007

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