A/RES/73/219 GA

United Nations A/RES/73/219 General Assembly Distr.: General 9 January 2019 18-22539 (E) 110119 *1822539* Seventy-third session Agenda item 18 (a) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2018 [on the report of the Second Committee (A/73/536/Add.1)] 73/219. International trade and development The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 56/178 of 21 December 2001, 57/235 of 20 December 2002, 58/197 of 23 December 2003, 63/203 of 19 December 2008, 66/185 of 22 December 2011, 67/196 of 21 December 2012, 68/199 of 20 December 2013, 69/205 of 19 December 2014, 70/187 of 22 December 2015, 71/214 of 21 December 2016 and 72/202 of 20 December 2017, Taking note of its resolutions 59/221 of 22 December 2004, 60/184 of 22 December 2005, 61/186 of 20 December 2006, 62/184 of 19 December 2007, 64/188 of 21 December 2009 and 65/142 of 20 December 2010, Reaffirming its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in which it adopted a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals and targets, its commitment to working tirelessly for the full implementation of the Agenda by 2030, its recognition that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, its commitment to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions — economic, social and environmental — in a balanced and integrated manner, and to building upon the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and seeking to address their unfinished business, Reaffirming also its resolution 69/313 of 27 July 2015 on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, supports and complements it, helps to contextualize its means of implementation targets with concrete policies and actions, and reaffirms the strong political commitment to address the challenge of financing and creating an enabling environment at all levels for sustainable development in the spirit of global partnership and solidarity, A/RES/73/219 International trade and development 18-22539 2/5 Reaffirming further its resolution 71/243 of 21 December 2016 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system and its general guidelines and principles, and its resolution 72/279 of 31 May 2018 on the repositioning of the United Nations development system in the context of the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, Recognizing that international trade is an engine for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction, that it contributes to the promotion of sustainable development and that it is recognized as one of the action areas of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and one of the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Recognizing also the need to ensure that the benefits of trade are more widely shared, Recognizing further that multilateral rules and disciplines are the best guarantee against protectionism and are fundamental to the transparency, predictability and stability of international trade, Recognizing the critical role of women as producers and traders and the need to address their specific challenges in order to facilitate women’s equal and active participation in domestic, regional and international trade, Reiterating the pledge that no one will be left behind, reaffirming the recognition that the dignity of the human person is fundamental, and the wish to see the Goals and targets met for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society, and recommitting to endeavour to reach the furthest behind first, Recommitting to ensuring that no country or person is left behind and to focusing our effort where the challenges are greatest, including by ensuring the inclusion and participation of those who are furthest behind, 1. Takes note of the report of the Trade and Development Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 1 and the report of the Secretary- General;2 2. Reiterates that Member States will not be able to achieve the ambitious Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 3 without a revitalized and enhanced global partnership and comparably ambitious means of implementation, and that a revitalized global partnership will facilitate an intensive global engagement in support of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, bringing together Governments, civil society, the private sector, the United Nations system and other actors and mobilizing all available resources; 3. Reaffirms that international trade is an engine for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction and that it contributes to the promotion of sustainable development, while taking note of its possible catalytic effect towards structural transformation and industrialization, particularly in developing countries; 4. Also reaffirms the commitments made through the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development 4 in, inter alia, international trade as an important action area for sustainable development; 5. Further reaffirms that the gender-responsive implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals is essential to achieving sustained, inclusive and __________________ 1 A/73/15 (Part I) and A/73/15 (Part II). 2 A/73/208. 3 Resolution 70/1. 4 Resolution 69/313, annex. International trade and development A/RES/73/219 3/5 18-22539 equitable economic growth, and notes the need for a broader use of gender impact assessments of trade policies before, during and after their implementation; 6. Reaffirms that global collective action through multilateral trade cooperation is essential in tackling challenges to development, that revitalizing a global partnership is critical for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and that the multilateral trading system continues to be the cornerstone of such a partnership and should be regarded as a global public good; 7. Recognizes that the World Trade Organization is increasingly affected by insufficient progress in multilateral trade negotiations and that it is imperative for the World Trade Organization to address issues that are at the heart of current problems in international trade, and recognizes in this regard the need to strengthen that organization, with a view to ensuring the continued viability and effectiveness of its dispute settlement, negotiating and monitoring functions; 8. Calls upon all members of the World Trade Organization to conclude negotiations on fisheries subsidies in 2019, consistent with the instructions from the eleventh Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization and with a view to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals; 9. Recommits to promoting a universal, rules-based, open, transparent, predictable, inclusive, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization, as well as meaningful trade liberalization; 10. Emphasizes the need to combat protectionism in all its forms and to rectify any trade-distorting measures that are inconsistent with World Trade Organization agreements, recognizing the right of countries, in particular developing countries, to fully utilize flexibilities consistent with their World Trade Organization commitments and obligations, and recognizes that the work of the World Trade Organization shall maintain development at its centre, with provisions for special and differential treatment remaining integral; 11. Urges the international community to adopt urgent and effective measures to eliminate the use of unilateral economic, financial or trade measures that are not authorized by relevant organs of the United Nations, that are inconsistent with the principles of international law or the Charter of the United Nations or that contravene the basic principles of the multilateral trading system and that affect, in particular, but not exclusively, developing countries; 12. Welcomes the entry into force of the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organization on 22 February 2017, calls upon members of the World Trade Organization that have not yet done so to ratify the Agreement, and stresses the importance of providing developing and least developed countries with assistance and support for capacity-building in implementing the Agreement; 13. Notes the commitments to working to ensure that bilateral, regional and plurilateral trade agreements complement the multilateral trading system, and recognizes that they can play an important role in complementing global liberalization initiatives; 14. Emphasizes the importance of facilitating the accession of developing countries to the World Trade Organization, recognizing the contribution that their accession would make to the rapid and full integration of those countries into the multilateral trading system, urges in this regard the acceleration of the accession process on a technical and legal basis and in an expeditious and transparent manner for developing countries that have applied for membership in the World Trade Organization, and reaffirms the importance of that organization’s decision WT/L/508/Add.1 of 25 July 2012 on accession by the least developed countries; A/RES/73/219 International trade and development 18-22539 4/5 15. Takes note of the fourteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, held in Nairobi in July 2016, as well as the outcome of the eleventh Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, held in Buenos Aires from 10 to 13 December 2017, and expresses its appreciation to the Government of Argentina for hosting the meeting; 16. Looks forward to the convening of the twelfth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in Astana from 8 to 11 June 2020, and expresses its appreciation to the Government of Kazakhstan for hosting the meeting; 17. Recalls the importance of members of the World Trade Organization working together with a view to achieving positive outcomes at the twelfth Ministerial Conference and beyond in a balanced, inclusive and transparent way, with a sense of urgency and solidarity, and to further working to strengthen the World Trade Organization; 18. Reiterates the important role of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as the focal point within the United Nations system for the integrated treatment of trade and development and interrelated issues in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development, and in contributing to supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda; 19. Invites the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to continue to monitor and assess the evolution of the international trading system and its trends from a development perspective, with particular attention to its potential contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals, and to monitor and assess persistent and emerging development challenges to trade from a sustainable development perspective, in accordance with its mandate; 20. Recognizes the commitment to continue to address the needs of small, vulnerable economies and to favourably consider the adoption of such measures as would facilitate their fuller integration into the multilateral trading system, taking into account the needs of small, vulnerable economies in all areas of negotiations, without creating a subcategory of members of the World Trade Organization, and in this regard encourages progress on the implementation of the World Trade Organization work programme on small economies, which supports their efforts towards sustainable development, as also reflected in the outcome document of the third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway;5 21. Calls upon the relevant organizations of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and resources, to ensure that no one is left behind and no country is left behind in the implementation of the present resolution; 22. Takes note of the advances by the Enhanced Integrated Framework in supporting the least developed countries in their use of trade as an engine of growth and as a means of achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction; 23. Highlights the importance of promoting the integration of least developed countries into the international trading system, including by doubling their share of world exports by 2020, as recognized in Sustainable Development Goal 17, and in this regard calls for greater efforts in implementing fully the duty-free, quota-free market access initiatives for least developed countries and strengthened efforts to operationalize the World Trade Organization services waiver for least developed countries, consistent with that organization’s decision WT/MIN(15)/48-WT/L/982 of 19 December 2015 on the implementation of preferential treatment in favour of __________________ 5 Resolution 69/15, annex. International trade and development A/RES/73/219 5/5 18-22539 services and service suppliers of least developed countries and increasing their participation in services trade; 24. Requests the Secretary-General, in collaboration with the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution and on developments in the international trading system, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-fourth session, in line with the content of paragraph 19 above, under the item entitled “Macroeconomic policy questions”, the sub-item entitled “International trade and development”, unless otherwise agreed. 62nd plenary meeting 20 December 2018

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