The text of Chapter IV is adopted on a provisional basis, subject to such modifications as may be deemed necessary, following further consultations to be conducted by the Asian Group in Geneva with other regional groups and countries as mandated by the Asian Ministerial Meeting in the context of the substantive preparatory process for UNCTAD IX.
160. In 1992, the Cartagena Commitment launched a modified dimension of the work and role of UNCTAD in a changing political and economic environment. It reaffirmed that UNCTAD, as the principal organ of the General Assembly in the field of trade and development, had a crucial role to play in strengthening international cooperation for development. It also stressed that UNCTAD provided the most appropriate focal point within the United Nations proper for the integrated treatment of development and interrelated issues in key areas, including trade, commodities, finance, investment, services and technology, in the interest of all countries, particularly those of developing countries.
161. The relevance and central role played by UNCTAD as the focal point, in the United Nations system, for the integrated treatment of development and interrelated economic issues has been reaffirmed at the highest political level including the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77, September 1995 and the Eleventh Summit of the NAM, October 1995.
162. There is recognition of the need to translate those political statements into a platform of action that would enhance UNCTAD's contribution to the advancement of development in a changing world. This platform has to make the best use of available resources and engage the broadest possible political support.
163. The Cartagena Commitment launched a timely and innovative process of institutional adaptation, revitalization of the function of UNCTAD and reorientation and consolidation of UNCTAD's substantive work programmes through the strengthening of its intergovernmental machinery and improvement of its methods of work. At the centre of that process was a dynamic and progressive sequencing involving the initial identification of a relevant set of issues; the carrying out of high-quality analytical work, which would benefit from invited inputs from both governmental and non-governmental experts and actors; and the conduct of intergovernmental consultations, dialogue and interaction aimed at the identification of areas of convergence and, when appropriate, negotiations.
164. The Cartagena Commitment also reaffirmed the basic mandate of UNCTAD in the field of international trade and related problems of economic development, as laid down in General Assembly resolution 1995(XIX) and other relevant texts. That reaffirmation remains not only valid but essential as issues relevant to the work of UNCTAD evolve in a changing world. UNCTAD's central role, as the primary economic organ of the United Nations, must continue to be that of a universal forum for intergovernmental deliberations and negotiations, confidence and consensus building, policy formulation, monitoring of implementation and follow-up, and technical cooperation.
165. Given the flexibility in the mandate of UNCTAD, and without in any way restricting that mandate, it is necessary to focus UNCTAD's activities in accordance with a set of priorities that maximize the potential benefits for developing countries, particularly in their efforts to overcome obstacles and achieve a fair and more efficient participation in the world economy, taking also into account the special needs of the least developed countries.
166. The mandate of UNCTAD, as modified and enriched by the Cartagena Commitment, is sufficiently flexible and encompassing to enable it to adapt to evolving needs, both at the macro level to deal with global policy approaches in the context of coherent working relations with other multilateral institutions and at the micro level to reach national policy-makers and create awareness of their potential problems and their possible solutions. Thus the evolution of UNCTAD's decision-making role remains compatible with the changing international economic, social and institutional environment. The adaptation process should also ensure the involvement of High-level officials (preferably at the Ministerial level) in action-oriented development policy dialogue.
167. The process of adaptation of UNCTAD's method of operation that started in Cartagena should continue and be improved. The concepts of a new partnership for development and the emphasis on the search for consensus are reaffirmed. Consensus-building, however, should not be at the expense of the development needs and objectives of developing countries.
168. The analytical and conceptual innovative work which UNCTAD has undertaken and which has become widely recognized should continue to focus on international trade and global economic trends from a development perspective. Meanwhile, the universal and multidisciplinary nature of UNCTAD's mandate should empower it to bring adequate focus and promote better understanding on crucial issues that may have an impact on development. UNCTAD can successfully carry out its tasks by inviting the contribution of non-governmental civil society.
169. In undertaking its task, UNCTAD should develop a relationship of substantive cooperation and complementarity with other relevant bodies, in particular WTO and the Bretton Woods institutions, and should attempt to create synergies, provide constructive approaches and generate political impulses capable of enabling those fora to give adequate treatment to issues that are of importance from the point of view of development. Due account has to be taken also of the recommendations of United Nations conferences on global themes that are relevant to the mandate of UNCTAD.
170. The dimension of UNCTAD's role and function is determined by its original mandate and by the new mandate that will emanate from the ninth session of the Conference itself on the substantive issues. The objective of addressing global economic issues with the aim of developing appropriate policy responses implies that UNCTAD should play a crucial role in alleviating poverty and promoting development worldwide by acting as initiator on the broad front of the emerging development paradigm -in particular in trade issues related to the implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements and their effects for developing countries, as well as the interrelations between trade policies on one hand and financial and monetary questions on the other hand as well as in the social aspects of development, in particular, poverty alleviation. Significant and current issues, such as multilateral rules for foreign investment and competition policies, could be identified.
171. In that context, the challenge to UNCTAD in the new millennium will be to promote its global and universal message hile at the same time ensuring specific and action-oriented focus on the problems of the developing countries, in particular the least developed countries. The twin challenges of globalization and liberalization demand a capacity to anticipate and predict - through appropriate analytical and operational mechanisms and an advance warning system - economic crises and instability at the global and regional levels.
172. The Cartagena Commitment called for technical cooperation to be strengthened, expanded and integrated in all relevant areas of UNCTAD's work. That concept of integration should be carried further, so that technical cooperation can both contribute to policy analysis and assist Governments in implementing the results of their deliberations. Such a process would need more effective planning and would involve regular and extra-budgetary activities and a closer relationship between intergovernmental deliberations at the policy analysis level and at the implementation stage. Provision of technical cooperation and operational activities aimed at providing direct assistance and specific services to developing countries in their efforts to modernize and achieve a more satisfactory integration in the global market also constitute an important aspect of UNCTAD's activities. Besides traditional areas, trade efficiency has been an acknowledged success. Other areas could receive the same innovative approach, i.e. privatization, enterprise development, ECDC.
173. If UNCTAD is to execute its mandates, functions and the role desired of it as a universal forum, it must be equipped with institutional machinery capable of effective implementation. Cartagena laid solid foundations for adaptable and flexible intergovernmental institutional machinery and new methods of work. The challenges in the decade ahead demand a new design of this machinery, particularly one that is lean and focused and responds to the resource crunch.
174. In a dynamic and evolving international economic environment, the design of the UNCTAD institutional machinery should allow for the systematic prioritization of work programmes and issues under deliberation through a priority-setting process, beginning with expert bodies and culminating in policy formulation by the Trade and Development Board.
175. There is an acknowledged need for being more selective in programming UNCTAD's activities and in establishing intergovernmental or expert bodies. In identifying priorities, UNCTAD should be oriented towards areas and activities that are relevant for the end-user and policy oriented, with practical and implementable prescriptions and recommendations.
176. During the eighteenth special session of the Board, it was possible to agree on a series of guidelines and recommendations addressed at the IX UNCTAD regarding the functioning of UNCTAD's intergovernmental machinery with the aim of contributing to revitalizing the institution and making it possible to establish clear priorities. The outcome of the special session points to the direction of a machinery that is more coherent and simple in its structure, functions and reporting lines, with a better regulated calendar and an overall reduced number of meetings. Consideration of these recommendations by the regional preparatory meetings will provide crucial inputs in terms of establishing a clear order of priorities and will help to translate them, during the following stages leading to UNCTAD IX, in an actual programme of work in terms of the number, names and mandates of the individual bodies.
177. Special attention should be given also in the regional meetings to the need to gather support, and to devise realistic negotiation goals, for the objective of gaining appropriate support for the financing of the participation of experts from developing countries in UNCTAD technical meetings.
The Ministers mandated the Asian Group in Geneva to conduct further consultations with other regional groups and countries, with a view to defining clear priorities for the future work of UNCTAD and the consequent institutional implications.