News
Displaying Results 1 - 25 of 25
Amid growing emphasis on accountability of sustainability claims on goods placed on markets and the challenge of addressing greenwashing, reliable and verifiable data have become crucial for building trust in global value chains. At the same time, as goods move across multiple borders, the climate…
The shift towards the digital exchange of trade data and documents can improve efficiency, reduce costs, enhance transparency, and enable better accessibility to and analysis of data. Furthermore, it has the potential to foster greener and more inclusive trade. Yet, efforts to digitalize data and…
Responding to the request of the Governing Council of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA), UNECE is building the capacity of public and private experts in the SPECA participating States to use the semantic standards and reference data models of the UN…
Increasing the use of digital solutions including those developed by the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) can enhance the sustainability and resilience of supply chains and strengthen global connectivity.
In a series of capacity-building…
Four years ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it disrupted the normal functioning of open markets. The ensuing crisis had crippling effects on global trade and productive capacities: it broke supply chains, reduced connectivity and slowed the flow of essential goods. Global food and energy…
At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, UNECE Executive Secretary Tatiana Molcean highlighted the role of UNECE’s legal instruments, standards and tools in dealing with the most pressing global challenges, namely climate change, digital and green transformations, low-carbon energy…
Trade facilitation is a potent instrument that can multiply the benefits of trade. Beyond direct impact on economic growth through higher trade flows linked to improved efficiency at the borders, trade facilitation reforms can also contribute to other policy goals. For example, through the…
According to a recently published UNECE Policy Paper, the agrifood, the garment and footwear and the mineral sectors contribute significantly to the economic growth and employment in the UNECE region, while being major sources of global greenhouse gases (GHG) and environmental pollution. Evidence…
Strong private sector engagement positively impacts the relevance, legitimacy, and credibility of national trade facilitation bodies (NTFBs) and encourages a business-centric approach to trade facilitation. Over the past several years, governments, donors and international organizations have…
The ongoing repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical instability, and elevated inflation rates continue to pose challenges to global trade, with the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s trade growth forecast now estimated at only 0.8% this year.
As the…
In today's data-driven world, organizations face the challenge of efficiently integrating and making sense of vast amounts of diverse data. Semantics and semantic interoperability provide a solution by enabling the meaningful interpretation and integration of data across heterogeneous systems. To…
As one of the United Nations regional economic commissions, UNECE has a key role to play in helping countries with economies in transition to better integrate into the global economy. UNECE is at the forefront of setting international standards on cross-border procedures, identifying regulatory and…
As the global economy emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic and governments strengthen efforts to “build-back-better”, trade as an engine of growth has re-emerged in policy agendas. For developing countries and countries with economies in transition that are still in the process of accession to the…
In light of today’s triple planetary crisis, one challenge for governments is to ensure that growth goes hand in hand with the development of green, inclusive and prosperous societies. This is even more challenging in today’s rapidly evolving global economy, which requires agile, flexible economies…
In the world grappling with the triple crisis, encompassing the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing regional conflicts, and climate change, disruptions of global supply chains are becoming more evident, resulting in the global trade slowdown. More specifically, these challenges have led to a significant…
Adopted in 1963, the UNECE Standard S-1 concerning the certification and commercial quality control of seed potatoes provides a framework for the international trade of seed potatoes. It is currently the only international standard that ensures that seed potatoes meet specific and harmonized…
The transition from linear to circular economies requires fundamental rethinking of trade policies and regulations. “Harmonized System” codes (HS codes) are a key pillar of the tariff infrastructure for international trade. These HS codes were designed at a time when circular economy considerations…
Technologies can enhance commerce if clear international standards are in place to ensure that their use is harmonized between trading partners, and if there is regulatory coherence among countries.
Ways in which digital and green transformations can improve quality infrastructure for…
June 2022 has been the month of trade discussions in Geneva, first with the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) and then UNEC’s Steering Committee on Trade Capacity and Standards (SCTCS). Both looked in detail at responses to the ongoing impact of COVID-19, both…
The Group of 7 nations (G7), six of which are UNECE member States (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US), took bold step towards reducing barriers to trade by agreeing on the principles to govern cross-border data use and digital trade. At their meeting in London on 22 October,…
The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have brought the benefits of paperless trading to the forefront of attention. Many countries are considering issuing, accepting and exchanging electronic documents for paperless trading. Issues related to paperless trading are…
Building regional capacity for devising and putting into practice trade facilitation policies is critical to strengthen trade as a driver of sustainable and resilient recovery.
UNECE teamed up with the Kyrgyz Economic University (KEU) to produce a professional development course on trade…
The economic and sanitary crisis caused by the pandemic calls for new ways of doing business. We need to digitalize data and document exchange in cross-border transport and supply chains to avoid person-to-person contacts, while increasing the…
With the COVID-19 pandemic, Trade facilitation has acquired even greater importance for the land-locked countries of Central Asia, as it helps remove burdensome formalities for their trade and transport operations. Simplifying and digitalizing procedures helps diminish physical contacts along…
The countries of the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) - Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - gathered for a virtual session of the SPECA Working Group on Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Development (WG on…