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External event

Conference

UNCTAD Global Commodity Forum on “Global Value Chains, Transparency, and Commodity-based Development”

The fifth meeting of the Forum, organized by UNCTAD with the support of its partners, is a major multi-stakeholder meeting where participants will be able to discuss potential solutions to perennial problems in the commodity economy.

The theme of the Forum is “Global value chains, transparency, and commodity-based development”.

During the first day of the Forum, participants will explore issues and experiences in the commodity sector through the lens of regional and global value chains, a concept that extends beyond sector and supply chain perspectives, to encompass issues such as responsible investment, regional interdependencies and equitable value distribution.

Improved governance is another key issue in commodity global value chains, especially as regulatory reform gathers pace in the extractive, trading and derivatives sectors. For example:

• How does private global governance operate through value chains?
• How does private governance interact with public governance in regulating or shaping standards and performance in the commodity sector?

Indeed, governance provides the link between global value chains, and the second day of the Forum is devoted to transparency.

Participants will begin by examining the various perspectives on transparency held by stakeholders such as governments, industry and civil society, aiming to arrive at common principles that can contribute to the transparency-themed regulatory reform in the commodities sector.

Subsequent sessions will address specific issues such as new legislation, disclosure rules, data analysis and sharing, and institutional requirements.

The Forum will also look at case studies: countries’ multifaceted approaches to enhancing transparency, as well as multi-stakeholder efforts such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.