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Short Courses for Geneva-based Diplomats - 2025 series
The UNCTAD secretariat is pleased to announce another series of short courses in 2025 on key international economic issues for delegates from permanent missions to the United Nations Office at Geneva and the World Trade Organization.
The aim of the courses is to give delegates from permanent missions an opportunity to become better acquainted with topical issues and developments in the international economic agenda as they are reflected in the work of UNCTAD. More detailed information on the content of individual courses may be found below.
In the second semester, four courses will be provided at Palais des Nations - on 10 October, 16 October, 10 November, and 11 December 2025. respectively.
The second semester in 2025 includes:
- Friday 10 October 2025, 10 a.m. (Room VII) - UNCTAD’s lens: supporting SIDS in building new development models
- Thursday 16 October 2025, 10 a.m. (Room XI) - Market access in times of geopolitical tensions
- Monday 10 November 2025, 10 a.m. (Room XVI) - Forecast on the global economy and its trends: Uncertainty and the Global Trade-Finance Nexus
- Thursday 11 December 2025, 10 a.m. (Room XVI) - Where is the LDC group heading in the future?
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The short course will provide an overview of UNCTAD’s strategy to support Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which recognizes the deep-rooted structural challenges facing them, including their small size, geographic isolation, limited economic diversification, and vulnerability to climate shocks. In response, UNCTAD’s strategy focuses on strengthening productive capacities, promoting innovation and green industries, improving resilience to external shocks, and enhancing access to quality data for decision-making. It is built on consensus that these countries deserve both the policy space to maneuver, and the necessary support, to bolster their economic trajectories. The strategy aligns with international frameworks like the ABAS and UN resolutions that call for tailored development assistance, better financing options, and access to technology for SIDS.
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Trade, as an enabler for sustainable development, is at risk? Unilateral policy measures and uncertainty regarding the rules based multilateral trading system have a potential impact on the ability for developing countries to use trade for sustainable development. This session recalls how important trade and market access in particular have been for recent development success stories and provides an overview of trade policy measures that have recently been used and that may prevent such development success stories in future. The focus is on tariffs, non-tariff barriers and measures as well as voluntary standards, forming the major parts of market access.
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Monday 10 November 2025, 10 a.m. - Forecast on the global economy and its trends: Uncertainty and the Global Trade-Finance Nexus
The short course will draw on insights from this year’s Trade and Development Report, which examines the global economic landscape of 2025. It highlights how system-wide uncertainty in trade rules, integration strategies, and geo-economic confrontations, particularly affecting developing economies, have evolved. Longer-term structural shifts and lowered growth expectations in the Global South are also explored, as external shocks, rising debt-service costs, and entrenched inequalities continue to constrain development prospects. A central theme is the trade–finance nexus: international trade—across commodities, manufactured goods, and services—is inseparable from financial mechanisms such as credit, banking, securitization, insurance, and capital markets. The report shows how monetary policy shocks and policy uncertainty feed into asset-price volatility, tighter financing conditions, and weaker investment, disproportionately affecting developing countries.
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The international community has placed strong emphasis on accelerating the process of graduation from the LDC category, i.e. the process through which countries that are LDCs eventually stop receiving special LDC treatment from its development partners thanks to their steady development. The international community has repeatedly set targets for the number of LDCs that graduate in the near future. However, the international economic and geopolitical context has become increasingly challenging for LDCs, and therefore the path towards eventually achieving graduation has become more difficult for LDCs to tread. This has led several countries that could potentially graduate to ask for deferral (postponement) of their graduation. Development partners have reacted on an ad hoc basis, as there are no clear rules of how to process these requests and react to them.
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Thursday 19 June 2025, 10 a.m. - The Technology and Innovation Report 2025: Inclusive Artificial Intelligence for Development
The Technology and Innovation Report 2025 highlights the pressing need for developing countries to prepare for the opportunities and challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence. The report examines how Artificial Intelligence can drive progress toward sustainable development while emphasizing the importance of minimizing risks, such as exacerbating inequalities among countries. The short course will focus on three aspects covered by the report: infrastructure, data, and skills. It will also zoom in on the analysis of the policies and requirements necessary to foster inclusive technological progress. Additionally, the importance of policies as related to ethical oversight, transparency, and international cooperation to co-create a global framework for Artificial Intelligence that promotes equity and prosperity will be addressed. What are the short falls and where we are lagging behind, will be addressed, from the prism of developing countries.
At the end of this course, delegates will have gained knowledge of:
- Insights into national-level policies to support Artificial Intelligence, adoption, and adaptation, as related to SDG 9.
- Understanding of global governance strategies and partnerships for inclusive AI, as related to SDG 17.
- Practical recommendations to harness Artificial Intelligence for sustainable development while mitigating risks.
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Friday 21 February 2025, 10 a.m. - Trade Preferences Outlook 2024: Towards a new market access cooperation
Since the 1970s, non-reciprocal trade preferences, such as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), have supported developing countries’ export growth. Yet, the rapidly changing global trade landscape poses new challenges. UNCTAD's Trade Preferences Outlook 2024 found the diminishing impact of preferential tariffs as MFN tariffs fall, free trade agreements proliferate, and non-tariff measures become more prevalent. Moreover, the rise of global value chains and the increasing technological intensity of production have shifted the sources of comparative advantages, necessitating a rethinking of the trade preferences. This course examines the current state of trade preferences for developing economies, particularly LDCs. It will discuss possible ways forward towards enhancing their development impact, including broadening market access cooperation to areas beyond tariffs, such as non-tariff measures, services trade, foreign direct investment and technology. The course is relevant to SDG 17 on strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development.
At the end of this course, delegates will have gained knowledge of:
- Historical evolution of non-reciprocal trade preferences.
- The empirical evidence on the role of trade preferences in promoting export diversification in developing countries.
- Current trends in preferential trade under the evolving trade landscape.
- Possible ways for enhancing the design and implementation of trade preferences and their development impact, including through new market access cooperation beyond tariff concessions.
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Thursday 3 April 2025, 10 a.m. - Forecast on the global economy and its trends, and debt issues for developing economies
This short course will cover the global economic landscape, with a particular focus on its impact on developing economies. It will examine pressing challenges such as rising debt service costs and deteriorating debt sustainability, fiscal pressures, and the uneven effects of technological and geopolitical changes. Delegates will also hear about opportunities and challenges emerging from climate change, particularly for developing countries, and how these can be navigated to foster sustainable development. Through expert insights and discussions, participants will be better equipped to navigate complex economic environments and contribute to the formulation of policies that promote resilience, the green transition and equitable growth, while paying attention to fiscal and policy space.
At the end of this course, delegates will have gained knowledge of:
- The current global macroeconomic landscape.
- Strategies to address debt sustainability and fiscal challenges.
- Opportunities and challenges presented by climate change.
- Innovative financing mechanisms and how debt can be managed and addressed.
