UNCTAD supports countries to progress towards SDGs

31/05/201924/06/2025 sonia

UNCTAD aligns its technical cooperation with the 2030 Agenda, continuously adapting to the new opportunities and challenges in trade and development and interrelated issues of finance, technology and investment -—
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—-. UNCTAD provides technical assistance, alongside analysis, capacity building and targeted support for marginalized stakeholders in developing countries to help them ensure equitable participation and ensure developing countries benefit more fairly from a globalized economy -—
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—-. In 2024, UNCTAD’s technical cooperation expenditure surpassed $56 million, funding delivered through 203 projects in 72 countries -—
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—- (figure 1).

Figure 1. In 2024, project expenditures remained predominantly interregional, followed by Asia and Oceania, and Africa, maintaining previous years’ distribution patterns.

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Note: Only expenditures for country and regional projects are considered.

Project expenditures by SDG have remained stable in 2024, with SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals - 32.1%) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure - 21.2%) continuing to dominate, albeit with a slight decline for SDG 17 from its 2023 peak. Long-term trends persist: SDG 15 (life on land - 16.7%) and SDG 8 (decent work - 10.1%) maintain consistent shares, while SDG 13 (climate action) reached a record 2.5%, reflecting its steady growth since 2021. Notably, SDG 2 (zero hunger) doubled its allocation to 0.17%, though remains marginal. The "Unspecified" category (3.6%) has stabilized at below pre-2022 levels, confirming a shift toward more targeted funding. These patterns underscore sustained priorities, with some reallocation to emerging needs like climate and food security.

Figure 2. The 2024 project expenditures distribution continued historical trends, with interregional projects leading, ahead of Asia and Oceania, and Africa.

Percentage of total expenditure

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UNCTAD is in action on various fronts

UNCTAD provides high-quality technical support across various areas, benefiting countries, national stakeholders, and the international community. UNCTAD brings together governments, businesses, civil society, academia, and other international organizations to address today's challenges and promote sustainable development and inclusive trade and economy for all.

UNCTAD contributes to enhancing member States’ capacities to reach the 2030 Agenda in several areas, including:

UNCTAD Empretec – driving inclusive and sustainable entrepreneurship

Empretec has led to 1.7 million jobs being created over the past 35 years.

UNCTAD EmpretecEmpretec is a Spanish acronym which blends “emprendedores” (entrepreneurs) and “tecnología” (technology). The term was introduced in Argentina in 1988. programme promotes entrepreneurship and enhances the productive capacityUNCTAD defines productive capacities as consisting of the productive resources, entrepreneurial capabilities and production linkages that together determine a country’s ability to produce goods and services that will help it grow and develop -—
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—- and international competitiveness of SMEsSmall- and medium-sized enterprise and start-ups in developing countries. Our global network of 42 national business development centres, supported by more than 550 certified trainers, has already benefitted more than 550,000 entrepreneurs and offers an extensive curriculum designed to boost entrepreneurial skills and business growth. Learn more...

The convening power of UNCTAD

Almost 107 000 participants at UNCTAD meetings in 9 years.

UNCTAD leverages its convening power to unite governments, businesses, civil society, academia, and other international organizations to promote sustainable development and inclusive trade and economy for all. Since 2016, nearly 107 000 participants have attended 1 077 official and registered meetings, with women making up 39 per cent of attendees. Learn more...

TrainForTrade

TrainForTrade has a global impact: over 30 000 trained from nearly 220 countries or areas.

TrainForTrade provides technical assistance to developing countries in three key areas: (1) port management; (2) e-commerceE-commerce is defined as the sale or purchase of goods or services, conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing of orders. The goods or services are ordered by those methods, but the payment and the ultimate delivery of the goods or services do not have to be conducted online -—
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—-.; and (3) trade statistics. The programme empowers countries to participate in and benefit from international trade equitably and sustainably. It develops knowledge networks to promote national ownership and strengthen South–South and triangular cooperation. Since 1998, TrainForTrade has enhanced the capacities of over 30 000 trade practitioners from 220 different countries or areas. Learn more...

Measuring South-South cooperation - at the roots of solidarity

11 countries of the South are pilot testing the UN Framework to compile South-South data

Momentum to measure South-South cooperationBroad framework of collaboration among countries of the Global South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains -—
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—-. SSC involves diverse domains in the global South, both financial (e.g., grants and concessional loans) and non-financial (training, technical cooperation, humanitarian assistance) modalities and is guided by principles such as horizontality, solidarity, respect for sovereignty, country ownership, complementarity, mutual benefit, equity, transparency, and accountability -—
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—-. Data on related issues like trade and FDI among the global South are also provided by UNCTAD. is rapidly building. Developing economies need support to collect South-South data for national policy and SDGsSustainable Development Goals, and are requesting training, tools and guidance, sharing of experience, and information systems support. As a co-custodian of indicator 17.3.1, UNCTAD is pairing with UN Regional Commissions and other partners to support countries in enhancing their capacity to collect data and measure South-South Cooperation. Implementing a UN Development Account project to test the Framework in seven pilot countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, partners are organising training workshops, e.g., in Nigeria and Namibia, 35 (15 women) and 12 (8 women) national experts have been trained in end 2024 and start of 2025, respectively. Other countries are joining pilot testing. Learn more...

Enhancing debt management and debt data transparency

DMFAS has trained over 8 000 experts (43% women) in debt management since 2014.

The UNCTAD DMFASDebt Management and Financial Analysis System Programme programme advises developing economies in debt management and helps them to record and report reliable debt statistics for policymaking. The programme assists developing economies in managing their debt and producing reliable debt statistics for policymaking. The programme provides practical solutions for public liability management and debt statistics production, supported by the DMFAS software, capacity development, and advisory services. Since its inception, DMFAS has trained nearly 8 000 experts in debt management, of which 43% are women and the DMFAS software is used by 61 countries on a daily basis to manage their public debt. The Programme is developing its 7^th major version to respond to the evolving needs of the debt management offices. Learn more...

Tracking illicit financial flows by analysing existing data

12 countries are measuring IFFs in 2023-2026 supported by UNCTAD and UNODC.

UNCTAD supports member States in strengthening their statistical capacity to define, measure and disseminate statistics on illicit financial flows as a custodian of SDGSustainable Development Goal indicator 16.4.1, in partnership with UNODCUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Currently, three projects by UNCTAD and UNODC together with UN Regional Commissions support 12 countries on four continents to measure illicit finance with the aim of reporting data to the Global SDG Indicators Database and informing national policy. UNCTAD hosted a Joint Measurement and Policy Workshop in February 2025 in Geneva, bringing together 30 experts (13 women) and work continues currently to support each country bilaterally during the policy phase. Learn more...

Promoting ICT as a tool for development

UNCTAD has completed 38 eTrade Readiness Assessments and 15 E-Commerce Strategies to align with national development goals.

UNCTAD supports countries in adapting to the digital economy, notably through its “eTrade for all” platform, which promotes sustainable development via e-commerceE-commerce is defined as the sale or purchase of goods or services, conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing of orders. The goods or services are ordered by those methods, but the payment and the ultimate delivery of the goods or services do not have to be conducted online -—
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—-. across key policy areas like ICTInformation and communications technology (ICT) is a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to transmit, store, create, share or exchange information. These resources include computers, the Internet, live broadcasting technologies, recorded broadcasting technologies and telephony -—
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—-. infrastructure and services, payments, trade logistics, regulatory frameworks, skills development and finance. It has completed 38 eTrade Readiness Assessments and 15 E-Commerce Strategies to align with national development goals. To inform policy, UNCTAD facilitates knowledge exchange and builds national capacity through technical materials and training. It has also developed a Handbook on Measuring Digital Trade and workshops with the IMFInternational Monetary Fund, OECDOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and WTOWorld Trade Organization. Learn more...

Fostering productive capacities and economic transformation

In 2022-2023, UNCTAD delivered three statistical trainings on measuring productive capacities and three policy trainings on fostering them, reaching 225 government officials — 41% of whom were women.

UNCTAD has developed a comprehensive programme aimed at fostering productive capacitiesUNCTAD defines productive capacities as consisting of the productive resources, entrepreneurial capabilities and production linkages that together determine a country’s ability to produce goods and services that will help it grow and develop -—
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—- and driving structural economic transformation in developing countries. It helps countries to enhance their statistical capacities, involves conducting National Productive Capacities Gap Assessments, assists in formulating development programmes to enhance productive capacities, and provides training on the knowledge and skills necessary to drive economic transformation. In 2023-2024, UNCTAD trained 225 national statisticians, policy makers and practitioners to measure and foster productive capacities for development in three African countries, with 41 per cent of participants being women. Learn more...

Promoting sustainable production of biodiversity-based products

Implementing UNCTAD’s BioTrade Principles and Criteria in 80 countries.

In around 80 countries, UNCTAD’s BioTrade Principles and Criteria reconciles economic development with poverty alleviation and biodiversityBiodiversity refers to the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems -—
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—-. conservation and sustainable use. Through projects and in collaboration with donors, UNCTAD supported activities that generated over US$160 million in exports of BioTrade products, improved the livelihood of 46 000 producers/collectors (55% female), out of which 30 000 people benefited with new jobs from responsible production or improved work conditions from 2016 to 2024, in the Mekong region; and in a project BioInnovation Africa, enabled sustainable wild collection on over 6,800 hectares and mobilized more than €446 000 through private sector investment in 2024. Learn more...

References

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