UNCTAD16 reaffirmed that multilateralism remains essential. Through it, countries gain access to ideas, technology and resources they could never secure alone. — AFP
THE year 2025 opened with renewed turbulence in global trade.
A fresh escalation in the trade war between major economic powers, particularly the United States and China, has deepened uncertainty.
Protectionism and restrictive trade measures spread across continents, while fiscal space continued to shrink.
The promise of open trade as a shared path to prosperity now faces its hardest test in decades.
Trade still drives growth, but without fairness it fuels division.
Developed countries capture most gains, while many developing economies remain stuck on the margins. Unless development sits at the centre of trade policy, globalisation will widen inequality instead of narrowing it.
This is where the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) plays a vital role.
It links trade and development and reminds the world that markets serve people, not the other way around.
At its 16th quadrennial conference (UNCTAD 16) in Geneva last month, the discussion centred on the enduring tension between trade, growth and inclusion.
The meeting returned to the city where UNCTAD was founded six decades ago and where the Group of 77, the main negotiating bloc of developing countries, first took shape.
For developing countries, these debates are far from abstract.
They decide whether the next phase of globalisation can deliver tangible benefits at home, and whether multilateralism can still bring real resources and results on the ground.
UNCTAD 16 spotlighted three pressing challenges that define the struggle of developing countries to benefit from trade.
First, the global push for clean energy has fuelled a surge in demand for critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.
For resource-rich developing countries, this boom risks deepening reliance on raw material exports.
Without investment in downstream industries, technology transfer and skills development, resource-rich countries risk being trapped in the “resource curse”, a paradoxical situation in which countries underperform economically.
Second, the digital divide is widening.
Countries with robust data infrastructure and technological capacity are thriving, while others lag behind due to limited connectivity and human capital.
The digital gap is no longer a technological issue, it is a major development issue that could exclude millions from the opportunities of the digital economy.
Third, intensified geopolitical rivalries will only disproportionately affect developing countries, especially those with limited productive capacity and import dependency.
Developing countries often find themselves caught between competing interests and being the most exposed to global economic shocks, bearing the brunt of disruptions they did not cause.
Against this backdrop, UNCTAD 16 reaffirmed that trade and development are inseparable.
While the World Trade Organization (WTO) defines the rules, UNCTAD provides the vision, a space where 195 member states, large and small, can debate how to ensure the global economy remains inclusive, fair and responsive to change.
The conference concluded with the Geneva Consensus, a forward-looking outcome that calls for trade policies centred on development, sustainability and equity.
It mandates UNCTAD to assist countries in building value-added industries, strengthening digital infrastructure, expand South–South cooperation and aligning trade with development goals.
Notably, it also tasked the organisation with examining the economic cost of occupation in Palestine and supporting its recovery.
For the first time, critical minerals were formally placed on UNCTAD’s agenda, acknowledging their strategic role in the global energy transition and the need to ensure fair benefit-sharing for resource-producing countries.
The outcome also echoed calls to reform the international financial architecture and modernise the international investment regime.
UNCTAD’s work will also help developing countries prepare for the 2026 WTO Ministerial Conference and push for a fairer, more development-focused multilateral trading system.
UNCTAD16 reaffirmed that multilateralism remains essential. Through it, countries gain access to ideas, technology and resources they could never secure alone.
Multilateralism delivers what isolation cannot.
At the conference, Indonesia’s participation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir highlighted three main messages. First, transformation is existential. In today’s crisis, countries must decide whether to shape the future together or be shaped by a crisis.
Indonesia’s experience offers a case in point. More than 15 years ago, the country began diversifying its economy by investing in value-added processing of key natural resources such as nickel and copper.
Despite initial limitations in technology and logistics, consistent regulation and infrastructure investment have helped Indonesia build resilience and competitiveness.
Today, Indonesia is cited at UNCTAD as a successful example of industrial policy driving development.
Second, digital transformation must benefit all. At the Ministerial Roundtable on the Digital Economy, Indonesia called for stronger cooperation to help developing countries harness the digital economy.
The goal is not merely to connect islands, but to connect people to education, markets and opportunities.
Digital inclusion is central to equitable growth. Without it, innovation risks reinforcing inequality rather than bridging it.
Third, trade must advance national development. Indonesia also reminded UNCTAD that ideas must translate into action. Developing countries should become active shapers of the global economic order. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
Achsanul Habib is Chargé d’affaires/Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the United Nations, WTO and other organisations in Geneva. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.
