Press briefing for the Global Supply Chain Forum 2024

Statement by Pedro Manuel Moreno, Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD

Thank you Belle (moderator) for giving me the floor.

Your Excellency, Mr. Kerrie Symmonds, Honourable Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs of Barbados, 

Your Excellency and dear friend Matthew Wilson, Ambassador of Barbados to the United Nations in Geneva,

Dear members of the media,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the press briefing for the first Global Supply Chain Forum.

We are organizing this forum to deal with an issue that affects us all: How to foster resilient and sustainable global supply chains.

Global supply chains have been experiencing major disruptions, and new challenges keep arising.

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented shock to supply chains, triggering a steep decline in trade and shortages of essential goods.

Thanks to an enormous effort on trade facilitation, including many digital solutions, ports could remain open and trade moving.

However, in some developing countries, access to and know-how on digital solutions are a challenge.

On top of this, recent geopolitical tensions have disrupted major trade routes, such as those in the Black Sea, and more recently the Red Sea.

And then there is climate change, taking a heavy toll on trade routes. For example, the Panama Canal is facing issues of water scarcity in the wake of the climate crisis.

The biggest challenge for maritime transport for the coming decades is the energy transition. Shipping must decarbonize and this is costly. Decarbonizing the world’s fleet by 2050 could cost between 8 to 28 billion dollars annually.

Small island developing states, including Barbados, are particularly affected by these challenges. They depend heavily on maritime transport but have fewer resources to mitigate and adapt. Also, higher shipping costs affect these countries disproportionately.

These countries require support, and the international community knows it.

This Forum aims precisely at finding sustainable solutions to these challenges and identify opportunities.

The good news is that many practical solutions already exist to facilitate trade, modernize ports, adapt transport infrastructure, and build resilience in maritime transport.

But a big challenge is funding, and currently, funding gaps are big.

We have been collaborating with the International Maritime Organization on understanding how economic measures, such as a levy, could support developing countries, and especially SIDS.

To address capacity gaps, UNCTAD has supported countries with technical cooperation programmes on customs automation, port reforms, trade facilitation, e-commerce, and maritime transport.

We should also keep in mind that the energy transition will bring new opportunities. Some countries may become providers or hubs of alternative fuels.

To help find new solutions on making global production and distribution networks greener and more efficient and resilient, we have launched a Supply Chain Innovation Challenge. The winner will be presented at the Forum. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Global Supply Chain Forum in Barbados offers a platform to discuss the multifaceted challenges of global supply chains and identify concrete actions to improve their functioning and sustainability.

This requires dialogue, engagement and collaborations of all critical partners along supply chains, including Member States, governmental bodies, the private sector and international organisations.

We are very pleased that the Forum counts with key partners in global supply chains. We already have more than 100 partners confirmed. We can count on the participation of the heads of IMO, CARICOM, ILO, UNIDO, the Association of Caribbean States and the Global Maritime Forum, to name a few.

And importantly, Ministers of Transports will deliberate on a ministerial declaration, which can then feed into the 4^th International Conference on Small Island Developing States in Antigua and Barbuda.

Before handing back to the moderator, I want to thank the Honourable Minister Symonds and the Government of Barbados, represented here by Ambassador Wilson, for hosting the forum and collaborating with us in the organizing this important event.

Thank you.