- Organized by:
- The Geneva Trade Platform and the UNECE
- Place:
- Virtual Meeting (Zoom)
- Date:
- 12 Mar 2021
- Start time:
- 09:00
Rethinking Trade
This event brings together public, private sector and expert analysis on how economies can promote innovation and structural transformation through trade to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a special focus on UNECE target economies and economies in transition, this session highlights lessons learned and policy recommendations governments can use to support their rebound from the pandemic is sustainable and inclusive.
This event will take place on Friday 12 March at 9:00am-10:30am CET
This side event of the UNECE Regional Forum explores responses to the short- and medium-term impact of the pandemic, including in ECE countries with economies in transition, focusing on two issues central to sustainable development: enabling and promoting innovation and trade for structural transformation.
COVID-19 has hit ECE member states, especially those with economies in transition, hard. In addition to the health crisis itself, most are experiencing a significant slump in economic activity. Even after the pandemic has passed, we are likely to see significant, profound changes to growth dynamics and trade patterns – potentially to the detriment of already vulnerable and commodity-reliant economies. The pandemic will also boost the rise of the platform economy, which will further change how we produce and consume and provide substantial, albeit unevenly distributed benefits.
Policymakers looking to support the sustainable and inclusive emergence of their economies from the pandemic and its accompanying global recession have a number of tools at their disposal. This session considers the challenges and opportunities flowing from innovation, export support for small and medium enterprises, and the use of electronic business standards.
Speakers:
- Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary, UNECE
- Anders Jonsson, Chief, Innovative Policies Development Section, UNECE
- Johan Eklund, Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum
- Damegul Kabiyeva, Chair, UNECE Steering Committee on Trade Capacity and Standards
- Tatjana Sterjova Dushkovska, Coordinator, Chamber Investments Forum Western Balkans
- Aleksei Bondarenko, Vice-Chair, UN/CEFACT
- Mario Apostolov, Regional Advisor, Economic Cooperation and Trade Division, UNECE
Moderator:
- Elisabeth Tuerk, Director, Economic Cooperation and Trade Division, UNECE