UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UNCTAD - Press Conference: Rebeca Grynspan on UNCTAD's 60th anniversary

[Other language spoken]

Welcome to the press briefing of the Information Service here in Geneva.

Today is Tuesday, 9th of April.

And as you know, we are exceptionally starting a little bit earlier our press briefing because we have the honour to have with us the Secretary General of Angktad, Mrs Rebecca Greenspan for a prequel to the briefing.

We will hear from her until 10:30 and then we will continue with the regular press briefing.

So Missus Greenspan, thank you very much for being with us.

With the journalist here in Geneva.

It's now 60 years act that has been created and it's undergoing a total rebranding in the run up to the 60th anniversary.

So I'll give you the floor and then we will open the floor to questions please.

Thank you very much.

Thank you all of you for for being here.

[Other language spoken]

Well, today represents a milestone for Uncut marking not just the beginning of our 60th anniversary, but also the presentation of our rebranding as UN Trade and Development.

This isn't a simple change.

Our new brand as UN Trade and Development represents a stronger and renewed organisation committed to expanding our reach, amplifying our voice as a firm advocate for developing countries in the global economy.

We want our mission to be better understood and our voice to be heard in the global economic debates where decisions that affect developing countries are taken.

Today, the need for renewal couldn't be clearer.

We live in a world which is very different from 1964.

There have been significant shifts in the global economic landscape and in 2024, cascading crisis, geopolitics, climate change are having a profound and disruptive effect on global trade and the global economy that have also geared towards higher increased inequalities.

Global debt has soared, especially in developing countries and key development indicators have progressed.

The indicators on poverty on Human Development Index, for the first time since the Human Development Index have been launched, has decreased, and trading services growth now outstrips trade growth in goods, and the digital economy is both an opportunity and a major disruptor for trade and development.

The challenges we face are complex and urgent, and at the same time they are both old and new.

It is essential to stay true to our founding principles and adapt to the demands of the present.

A Secretary General of the UN Trade and Development, I am proud to represent today an organisation that's not only rooted in history, but is forward-looking and adapting to new challenges.

Looking ahead, I would like to announce that to mark our 60th anniversary, we will convene a Global Leaders Forum here in Geneva between the 12th and 14th of June.

The UN Secretary General will attend this forum, which will bring together heads of state and government, ministers leading world economy, economies, private sector and civil society.

Nobel laureates so they will debate a new course for development and new economics for the rapidly changing world.

These Global Leaders Forum will include thematic sessions looking at the substance of key emerging issues in the global economy such as trade and the new search of industrial policy for development.

Reshaping foreign direct investment policies in the new economy, development strategies in a world of cascading crisis, Data for development and digital revolution, and finding new momentum for the development of Africa, least developed countries and small island developing states.

This forum will provide a platform for innovative solutions to emerge with new economic thinking to help us address the most pressing challenges of our time.

UN trade and development, now more than ever, remains a cornerstone of the United Nations system.

Our commitment to promoting the interest of developing countries in the global economy, fostering dialogue and providing invaluable insights and support remains the same.

I invite you to look through this video, after which I will be happy to take your question.

Thank you very much again.

Thank you very much, Secretary General, to ask my colleagues to put the video on.

[Other language spoken]

The.

Thank you very much.

I give the floor back to the Secretary General.

OK, let's open the floor to question then.

First of all, I start with the room.

Yes, Jamie Keaton, who is our correspondent of The Associated Press and also the President identity of Akano.

[Other language spoken]

I'm Associated Press correspondent in Geneva is enough.

Not anyones correspondent here.

The thank you very much for coming to see us.

Could you give us a little bit more detail about what this is going to involve?

[Other language spoken]

You're dropping the word conference.

[Other language spoken]

What what is this actually going to mean?

Are you going to change the culture of the of the house?

Are you going to dynamize it?

If that's a word?

Are you going to cut positions?

Are you going to make it leaner and meaner?

Tell me a little bit more about what this really means.

[Other language spoken]

I, I remember that in my address to the Trade and Development Board in February, I referred precisely to that.

You know, I said that I don't believe in the Tabula rasa model that you think that you go and you rebuild everything.

You, what you do is really you synergize and you take advantage of the good things that the organisation has done in these 60 years.

And I have to say that this organisation has a history that I respect profoundly.

So I what I think that now we, we, we, we have changed in a way is the way in which we address the problems on on the one hand, we have been able to again be an important voice in the UN system.

We have contributed to very key crisis and important issues today.

Not only look at the past, not only do an analysis exposed, but be completely immersed in the solutions and the discussions that are shaping today the world.

That was the case with the Global Crisis Response Group, that was the case with the negotiations for the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the evidence base and analysis on time given by ANTA was a very important part of the results that we saw in this.

For example, these these two examples that I that I gave you, we, we have a strengthen our statistical capacity, our evidence based analysis and our forward-looking towards the new emerging issues that are affecting the world.

One example is the whole issue of climate change and environment.

Yes, that has not been in the past a very central, you know, a, a discussion in, in antag.

So we have strengthened very, very substantially our capacity in financing on on the whole issue of climate change, but also climate change and trade, how trade and environment are evolving.

Also we have strengthened our capacities in a specifics in the blue economy, for example, in trade.

So the whole this new part of the economic thinking integrating environment into our economic thinking and our development analysis has been strengthened in an important manner during this past two years.

[Other language spoken]

And I can give you more examples of that.

We we have presented to the Board very early on 10 points of reform in Antac and I have to say that we have accomplished that.

So this middle term on my 4 year term in Antac is really a different branding is like a final step on that reform that has been that has started since I came that I agreed with the board, with the member States and and that day I think that they will are reflected in in our proposal of of of the brand name.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Secretary General Paulo Dupras, Geneva Solutions.

[Other language spoken]

I first of all, I wanted to to know what the logo represents.

And then secondly, who was it that you contracted to, to actually do the, the rebranding?

Was it somebody internal, external?

What sort of costs were involved in in that rebranding move and just wanted to know how that compares, how those costs compare with cost cutting measures that you've introduced at Ontad.

It seems that staff has been requested to to move to the new building to, to save an energy costs.

Some staff seem to be unhappy because there's there issues with Internet connection and the open space seating where they're not allowed to.

They they can't really do conversations, phone calls, Zoom calls, whatever.

[Other language spoken]

I will give the floor also to Amalia to to go through the specifics.

[Other language spoken]

We, we hired an audit on of our communication and branding and the audit revealed a concerning level of fragmentation in Antag.

We had at the moment of the audit, 31 different logos in circulation, 18 different types of visuals for meetings, 32 different designs for publications, 29 websites and a little name recognition or understanding what Ankat standard for.

So these are only some numbers for you to understand why we needed to make this exercise, you know, a meaningful one for the future because it's impossible really to establish yourself and to be visible with that kind of fragmentation.

And let me say something that maybe is important on my thinking.

You know, this rebranding exercise of the communication task and objectives that we have are part of our mandate.

This part of our delivery is not a marketing exercise.

[Other language spoken]

It's the possibility that our voice will be visible and will be heard.

That is part of what we have to worry for, yes, Because if we do the analysis and nobody knows about it, nobody understands it, there are no messaging there, there is no impact.

So we cannot really fulfil our objective and that's the core of what we are doing.

Amalia will answer on the on the process and and and the costing.

The other thing that also Jamie asked on in terms of cost, let me say this, Ankat has been cut systematically for 10 years.

If you look at the numbers in terms of in, in, in, in, in constant prices, yes.

And taking inflation into account, we have a budget that is significantly lower than before.

So the cuts have been done without.

[Other language spoken]

You know we have had to adjust to a freeze of since last year in our hiring possibilities, yes, because the freeze have been enacted since mid last year and have continued this year because of the liquidity crisis in the UN.

So I am proud to say that despite these facts and that has been able to be better in terms of delivery.

We have been a much more in time.

We have given rapid support to countries and to the UN system.

We have been able to respond quickly despite the cuts and despite the freeze.

Yeah, actually I think that the, the first time that we received in the last decade and 1/2 that we received new posts for Antat was in 2023.

So not 24 and unfortunately it won't be either 25, but that, that gives you, you know, an, an, an idea with respect to the move.

Look, the, the, the whole decision on the renovation decision of the Palena was taken many years ago.

And what is happening now is that because of the delays in the, in the project, in the liquidity crisis, a decision has been taken.

It's not the the anti decision, it's a decision has been taken to cut costs and to cut costs we will have to move from the E building.

That is a huge disruption for us.

You know, we are in the middle of, we have been investing in the organisation, you know, for two years and a half.

And when we are taking off, we are having to deal with the situation and, well, you know, you have to do the best of it.

And we will try to do whatever we can to ease the pain on our personnel.

And I know that there is pain because I am feeling it.

You know, myself, I have to move in the middle of all this, all that is happening for us.

And that is good news.

And the 60th anniversary and the conference next year, yes.

So obviously it's a disruption, but you know, it's not, it's not something that we should allow to disrupt also our goals and our objectives.

And I think that we will have a very successful 60th anniversary despite everything.

And I count with the commitment on the commitment of, of, of the of the anti staff that have been incredible.

Really, really.

Let me say something that I have said always we need rebranding, we need to adapt.

There are there is a new economy emerging, but we do this with the knowledge, the experience and the capacity of an institution that has a wonderful 60 years of history.

Malia, would you like to add something on to answer?

Yes, just to add not much more on what the Secretary General has said, but regarding the rebranding, it has been really a manifestation of what the SG has said that communication is part of mandate delivery.

So it's, it's been a very deep 2 year exercise led by UN on that staff.

So while we did have an agency for the initial audit of where we were, yeah and also benchmarking against other other organisations who also speak in the global economic field.

And this agency was AVAS with a long experience in working within the UN and with other UN agencies.

It has essentially been a long 2 year exercise taken forward by the in house graphic designers who are sitting with us here today and the Nadesh and Sheila, Magali and David.

At the back of the room and also with a lot of input from all staff who through the history of Ontad know the DNA of the brand and understand its values.

That's why the rebranding is not, it's a transition to make ourselves better understood, to explain a lot of things that the media already said.

They already said Ongtad, the UNS trade and development body, that is how many of you talked about us anyway.

So it's been a listening exercise and it's been an exercise with the support of ours on the initial audit of where we were, but taken forward essentially with the talent in house.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Robin Miller from the French News Agency.

[Other language spoken]

Have you had discussions with the other UN agencies about these fields that you're looking to expand more into?

You mentioned particularly climate change.

If so, have those discussions gone?

Secondly, it it still looks like it says UNKTAD on the logo on the table.

Are you keeping UNKTAD as the short name?

And and finally the the forum that that you announced, are you hoping that that's going to become an annual thing or is it just a one off?

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.

UNKTAD will continue to be Unktat.

We continue to be a conference.

But obviously the recognition of what ANTAC means in some, for some people in, in different languages is even harder, yes, and even difficult to pronounce.

So we continue to be a conference, but it's good to have the name fully trade and development.

Yeah, so people know what what we are about.

We have discussed with other agencies not not our rebranding, but we are in several multi agency task force that we are participating that we didn't participate before strongly.

For example, we are participating with the UNFCCC in the carbon market discussion.

We are participating in the special minerals, the critical minerals for the energy transition interagency Task force that have been established from from New York.

We have several groups of discussion with the UNEP and to to give an example and with UNFCCC a big collaboration in all the discussions that they have asked us to participate.

So yes, we are doing this in a very interagency way.

Now there is a special part that is ours, yes, because the trade an environment issue will be an issue of increasing importance.

Yes, we are seeing already you know A5 fold increase in standard and norms that have to be that have to that deal with environment in trade issues.

And you can imagine how difficult this is for the developing countries, especially for the small and medium sized enterprises all around.

It's difficult for them to navigate that spaghetti ball of standards and norms that have been, you know, been enacted with good intentions trying to bring environment into into trade.

But that that we have to really discuss and make sure that trade is part of the solution, but not an obstacle for development for the developing countries.

The other thing that we are doing that is very much as is maritime transport and the whole issue of transport.

You know, 80% of trade is maritime transport.

In maritime transport, it represents 3% of total emissions in the world.

And well, one of the examples, Jamie, for to go back to your question is that is, is the rapid assessment that we did on what was happening in the main arteries of maritime trade.

You know, we had the Black Sea disruptions, we have the the Red Sea and Suez Canal disruptions and the Panama Canal.

We put it together and we, we, we have been one of the most sighted, you know, organisations in the analysis.

So and so we are working with the International Maritime Organisation precisely on how to reduce emissions in maritime, in maritime transport and that affects maritime trade, trying also to shield the impact that that will have in the small island development states, for example, that have small ports more difficult to adapt, that we need resources to adapt to new fuels and to new maritime technologies to reduce emissions.

So those are only examples are some examples on how we are looking at this.

And the FORA for the 60th anniversary is A1 event.

Our normal event is the conference and this every four years and we will have the conference in 2025.

And so there is there is no outcome document that we are expecting from the 60th anniversary.

What we want is an open, frank and forward-looking conversation on the changes that the the world is going through and the economy is going through that will give us, you know, the start to think about the conference in 2025.

I'm sorry, we have time only for one more question.

And Lohan Sierra on the line has been waiting for long.

So I'll give Lohan the floor.

The Swiss news agency Secretary General Lohan, should this really mean?

[Other language spoken]

Quickly on the forum, can you give us a flavour already of the line up the heads of states that have committed to come and maybe can you give us the an approximate number of participants And very briefly as you mentioned it, the grain initiative, are you still talking to Russian interlocutors on the fertiliser part of of the deal?

[Other language spoken]

You, you will, you will understand that I won't give any names.

And you know, especially because having been in government, I know that something happens in your country in the last five minutes before you take the plane and, and you know, things change.

So, but we expect around 5/8 heads of state, state and government to be with us.

That, that is a very ambitious expectation, but we will work towards it.

We are very optimistic in terms of the presence of ministers and heads of state and government to come to be with us in around how many participants are we 500, around 500 participants.

So we expect this to be a very, a very good event and very successful with respect to and obviously we are talking to the Swiss government and they are fully supporting us and they we are very happy to do this in Geneva that in international, you know, with the whole participation of international Geneva.

With respect to the consultations with Russia, yes, we are continuing to have consultations is the Secretary General has said very clearly that we will continue to do whatever is in our hands to facilitate exports of food and fertilisers from Ukraine and the Russian Federation, because that is important for the world.

And we have proven that part of precluding a wide humanitarian crisis has been to re establish trade and to re establish the possibilities of trade taking, taking a part with the lowest transaction cost, because also the transaction costs affect prices and then affect the access of people to food and of farmers to fertilisers.

And so we will continue to do that.

And whatever is in our hands to try to is the any obstacles for food and fertilisers coming from Russia and from Ukraine.

The Secretary General agrees to one more question.

I'll give the floor to Reuters.

Paula, sorry you had your chance.

But afterwards, as Maria just said, the secretary general will be available for media request later.

[Other language spoken]

Secretary General, there apparently was AUN LED agreement that was technically ready to be signed late last month regarding navigational safety in the Black Sea.

Not only just a grain deal, but rather focusing on safety, taking in town, taking into account concerns from different parties and the different shortcomings of this deal.

Why was this deal not signed?

Thank you referred to the specifics, but it is true that they as the Secretary and I have said we are trying to establish a free navigation agreement in the Black Sea.

That will be important for everybody.

Yes, because it will allow, as I said, transaction cost to come down and you know, a normalisation of trade in the Black Sea, especially, you know, in the, in the framework of what we are seeing, as I said before, you know, the disruptions in very important arteries for, for a maritime transport.

So the Secretary General is effectively trying to get an, an agreement on, on, on the possibility of free navigation in the free navigation in the Black Sea.

I, I, it's, it's not only the safety you, you, you have made like the word safety is not necessarily the right word.

Yes, it, it will be, you know, the, the, the, the natural evolve development of the grain, Black Sea Grain Initiative and the MOU with the Russian Federation that was signed in, in, in Istanbul and ended in July last year.

The natural evolution will be to go into a free navigation.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much to everyone.

I ask the indulgence of those who were waiting, but I think we have to unfortunately stop here.

As I said, I mean Amelia will take later on your questions if there's any.

I know, but she had a chance.

[Other language spoken]

The mic, please.

[Other language spoken]

Just for Mrs Navarro, if, if it's possible to to specify exactly how much additional costs you may have had for this, this rebranding you mentioned this, this organisation and AVAS, I'm not familiar with it.

[Other language spoken]

It's one of the largest agencies in the world and rebranding.

I'm happy to provide the the cost.

It's not an additional cost.

It was part of the budget that we had that we decided to, to invest it strategically in this.

And yes, it's, it was under 100,000, so way below what it normally costs because I stress that it, it was an in house project for 3/4 or yeah, even more.

So I I want to underline that because it wasn't something that was not done without the talent that Ongtar has, without the staff and also without, as the secretary general underlined, without two years of long discussions internally and work.

So the agency was ours.

It was an audit we needed to benchmark where we wanted to go and where we were.

But the creative work, and happy to share with you the 100 pages of the round book was done in house with the focus also of communicating better complex macroeconomic data and statistics.

UNKAR is not only known for its analysis, but it really is a statistical powerhouse and data power house.

So a lot of work has gone into making that understandable.

And yeah, so the impact of of the organisation is multiplied so that that would be my answer.

Thank you very much.

We have to, unfortunately, stop here.

Please, the journalist, stay on the line and in the room.

[Other language spoken]

We'll cut for a few minutes and then we will continue with the regular press briefing.

I'd like to thank very much the Secretary General of Ankstad and Amalia and having worked for 20 years in ACT that this is really particular pleasure to see this great organisation going forward.

Thank you very much.

Stay on the line please.

We'll start with Sudan in a few minutes.

[Other language spoken]

UNCTAD - Press Conference: Rebeca Grynspan on UNCTAD's 60th anniversary - 09 April 2024