Duration: 90 minutes
Theme: Recent trends in trade and investment in transition economies: COVID-19 implications for value chains
(Webinar is organized by UNECE in partnership with the Geneva Trade Platform)
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic brought a number of challenges to the global economy. Trade has been severely disrupted by supply and demand shocks. Among others, the COVID-19 crisis has had a major impact on the supply of medical products and other vital goods. Foreign direct investment (FDI), essential for facilitating trade, economic growth and the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), plummeted globally. These disruptions have also had significant implications on the way global value chains (GVCs) operate. Transition economies, including those which are the least integrated into the global economy, were significantly affected.
This webinar will explore recent COVID-19-induced trends in trade and investment and in GVCs operations. Speakers will outline global trends and provide insights into recent developments in transition economies in the UNECE region, i.e. Central Asia, Southern Caucasus, Western Balkan and Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation. Discussions will look at the way forward for resilient, diversified and sustainable economic recovery post-COVID-19.
The session will bring together speakers from international organizations, academia/think tanks and national/regional agencies. By providing simultaneous translation English-Russian it aims at providing information to and involving transition economy policy makers.
Target audience:
- Global trade and investment community
- Government representatives, academia, development partners, private sector
Format:
- Online session, with three presentations, followed by commentators and Q&A from the audience (chat function)
- Simultaneous interpretation English-Russian with a view to reaching audience in capitals
Moderator:
- Ms. Elisabeth Tuerk, Director, Economic Cooperation and Trade, UNECE
Speakers:
- Mr. Richard Bolwijn, Head, Investment Research Branch, Division on Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD
- Mr. Nee Coleman, Senior Economist, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO
- Mr. Maxim Medvedkov, Head, Department of Trade Policy, Higher School of Economics, Moscow
Discussion:
- Q&A
- Commentators
Ms. Gulmira Kuzhagalieva, Senior Expert, QazTrade Center for Trade Policy Development, Kazakhstan
Ms. Aisuluu Mambelkazieva, International Trade Consultant and Fellow, Asian Trade Centre, Singapore
Resources: