The Weekly Tradecast by UNCTAD unctadonline

As the United Nations first Global Supply Chain Forum gets underway, The Weekly Tradecast gets an update on shipping disruptions that are adding to the global challenges with UN Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Jan Hoffmann. 
Ships carry about 80% of goods globally – from production to consumption. With tensions high in the Middle East, attacks by Houthi rebels on vessels in the Red Sea have diverted large amounts of traffic from one of the world’s most important shipping shortcuts. 
Another shortcut – the Panama Canal – is suffering its own disruptions as low water levels reduce the number and size of ships that can pass through. 
Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of UN Trade and Development, and Jan Hoffmann, head of the organization’s trade logistics branch, have just been on the ground in Panama. 
Tune in to Jan Hoffmann to get an overview on the disruptions and how countries, businesses and consumers are coping. 

The Weekly Tradecast looks at low-lying coastal countries and the unique threats they face from climate change with UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) senior economist Mussie Delelegn. 
The resilience and prosperity of these countries is the focus of the UN’s fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States in late May.
Known as SIDS, these dozens of small island states are the most vulnerable to extreme weather, rising seas and coastal erosion brought on by climate change.
The human and economic costs are enormous. If climate trends continue, some of the islands could soon disappear under the waves. 
Listen in to Mussie Delelegn to learn how the SIDS can build their economies, protect their people and mitigate the impact of climate change.

The Weekly Tradecast looks at the importance of science, technology and innovation for global development – and our future – with Virginia Dignum, Director of the AI Policy Lab at Umea University.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is very much in the news but it’s just one of many emerging technologies with huge implications for our economies, our societies and the environment.
How do we create benefits that are inclusive and sustainable? How do we plan for a future that’s evolving so rapidly? 
Tune in to Virginia Dignum, a member of the UN’s AI Advisory Board, to explore the disruptions, opportunities and innovations that are transforming our world and our lives.

This episode of the Weekly Tradecast looks at a new report by the United Nations on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) with Bruno Casella, a senior economist at UN Trade and Development.
By tracking 20 years of FDI, the report says global flows are slowing down in the long term. Services are still growing quickly but manufacturing activity has suffered the most. 
The stagnation was already happening but the report says recent shocks – ranging from the pandemic to geopolitical tensions – have highlighted how the global economy is becoming more fractured.
All of these factors, it says, will reshape investment decisions, international production and global value chains.
Tune in to Bruno Casella, who led the new FDI report, to find out the implications for developing countries industrializing their economies.

This episode of the Weekly Tradecast looks at the rare metals and minerals used in mobile phones, laptops and electric car batteries with Clovis Freire, chief of the commodity research and analysis section at UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Electric vehicles are seen as clean because they don’t belch out exhaust fumes that fuel climate change. But some of the materials that go into them – especially the minerals and rare elements in their batteries – have large carbon footprints. 
The environmental impact of extracting materials like cobalt, copper, lithium and graphite is a major concern. 
In countries where much of the mining is done, there can be issues over human rights and the benefits to communities. With demand high and supplies limited, these materials also drive concerns about market domination by just a few producers. 
Tune in to UN Trade and Development’s Clovis Freire to find out more about these rare metals and minerals and how to make them greener.

This episode of the Weekly Tradecast looks at the update to the UN’s Trade and Development Report with UNCTAD director Richard Kozul-Wright.
On the positive side – despite high inflation, high interest rates and gloomy forecasts – the global economy grew 2.7% last year.
The bad news – the update says – is that the positive momentum is going to waste and that growth looks set to be slower this year at 2.6%.
Tune in to UN Trade and Development’s Richard Kozul-Wright to find out how we address not only rising interest rates and inflation but also the urgent challenges of climate change, underinvestment and inequality before it’s too late.