Can transport and trade logistics make development more socially inclusive and environmentally friendly?

The fifth session of the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Transport, Trade Logistics and Trade Facilitation, taking place on 23-24 October 2017 in Geneva, will address the underlying linkages between, on the one hand, international transport and trade facilitation and, on the other hand, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, unprecedented in scale and ambition, and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets, were adopted by the international community in 2015.

Integrated and indivisible, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims at balancing the three dimensions of sustainable development, providing a shared vision and shaping collective action in support of an economically viable, socially inclusive and environmentally-friendly development path.

During 2016, the first full year of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the international community changed gears, focusing attention on the implementation and operationalization of the Sustainable Development Goals in line with their targets.

Transport and trade facilitation, the core areas of trade logistics, encompass activities with strategic importance for globalized trade, supply chains and world economic interconnectedness. They are cross-cutting enabling factors deeply rooted in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and necessary, directly and indirectly, for the achievement of several Goals.

UNCTAD has long recognized the nexus between sustainable development and trade logistics. Attention to the integrated treatment of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of transport and trade facilitation has further heightened over recent years as reflected in successive UNCTAD mandates, namely the Accra Accord, Doha Mandate and Nairobi Maafikiano.

These linkages underscore that sustainable transport and trade facilitation is a prerequisite for effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Progress in implementation requires effectively addressing challenges and obstacles to sustainable transport and trade facilitation, which may be institutional, legal, financial, technological or capacity-related.

Challenges in many developing countries often relate to considerations such as transport costs, transparency, governance, cargo transit times and delays, regional connectivity, interisland connections, access to markets, participation in relevant transport and trade networks, capacity-building at the level of executing agencies, infrastructure needs and gaps, energy efficiency, carbon emissions and air pollution, financing requirements and data and statistical capability requirements.

In this context, building the sustainability of trade logistics in developing countries and monitoring and tracking progress is key for the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Transport and trade facilitation solutions need to be sustainable, and effective solutions can then help achieve numerous other objectives by providing the necessary trade logistics services to achieve the Goals that depend on trade and economic development.

Against this background and drawing upon UNCTAD work in the field, this session will discuss selected issues that lie at the interface of trade logistics and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The aim is to discuss ways in which countries, in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, could join efforts to implement sustainable and resilient transport and trade facilitation solutions in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, aimed at “transforming our world”.

A background note on the theme ‘Trade logistics and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ highlights selected issues that lie at the interface of trade logistics and the 2030 Agenda, to help inform discussions at the Expert Meeting and consider ways in which countries, in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, may join efforts to implement sustainable and resilient transport and trade facilitation solutions in support of the 2030 Agenda.

Given the enabling powers of transport and trade facilitation, planning for sustainable transport and trade facilitation in support of the 2030 Agenda remains a priority.