Nairobi, 14 December 2015 - UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner joined other world leaders and senior officials in Nairobi to call for the new Sustainable Development Agenda to be at the centre of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agenda.
Mr. Steiner noted that 2015 was a year for the history books. The landmark agreements this year - the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the Paris climate deal - will transform the way that our economies work in the decades to come. These agreements should inspire the WTO.
“Over the last 10 years, the WTO and the UNFCCC have been like twin sisters, caught in a process that everybody knows has to move somewhere else, but also caught in the reality of the status quo, of national interests, and of unresolved agendas.”
Mr. Steiner underlined that, despite the many challenges, even the calls to end the UNFCCC, multilateralism has prevailed in Paris to bring an agreement that will fundamentally alter the way that our economies work in the future.
“What was adopted just 48 hours ago in Paris, is not just another chapter in the journey of climate change. It simply signifies the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel-driven economic era of modern times.”
Mr. Steiner spoke at a plenary event on the sidelines of the WTO 10th Ministerial Conference (MC10) in Nairobi. UNEP co-hosted the plenary with the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) at the Nairobi Trade and Development Symposium (TDS). Mr. Steiner encouraged the WTO constituency, as he called it, not to give up on the Doha Development Round, but also pushed it not to fall behind in making progress.
“I appeal now to the trade community to begin to realise that the world is overtaking you - whether through regional trade agreements or through the articulation of an integrated and universal approach to development that is articulated in New York.”
It was a call to action for the trade community to begin to recognise that the trade agenda does not exist in isolation, and must begin to recognise the many other priorities the world is marching ahead to address.
“I hope that out of Nairobi will perhaps come a signal that the future of the trade agenda is far more aligned with the 2030 agenda and environmental sustainability than we perhaps have allowed it to happen in the corridors of the negotiations to date.”
Mr. Steiner took the opportunity to announce UNEP’s plan to address sustainable development through trade by establishing the Environment and Trade Hub, responding to countries’ demand to better benefit from trade in environmentally sound technologies, align environment and trade governance, and to participate in green global value chains and reducing the footprint of trade.
While Mr. Steiner recognised the important challenges that the environment can have for trade protectionism, he emphasised that the understanding of environment has changed. Citing UNEP studies on green economy and trade, he noted that the environment can be a driver of trade, listing the growth of South-South trade in renewable energy goods and Ghana’s potential for exports of renewably generated electricity as examples.
Mr. Steiner joined several other high-level officials to build awareness on the importance of trade for achieving sustainable development.
The Hon. Amina Mohamed, Cabinet Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kenya, emphasised that trade is essential to sustainable development, including all three pillars - the economy, society and the environment. Two key examples are food security and sustainable agriculture.
The Hon. Gregory Domingo, Trade Minister of the Philippines, emphasised that trade was essential to lifting countries out of poverty through economic growth. But trade was not always inclusive - need to ensure that trade works for micro and small enterprises to achieve sustainable development.
WTO Deputy Director-General Fred Agah noted that capacity building was key to helping countries, in particular Least-Developed Countries (LDCs), achieve sustainable development. The WTO has played an important role, delivering duty-free quota-free market access for LDC exporters, the services waiver, Aid for Trade, and other pro-development initiatives, not least of which brings knowledge to various WTO regional groupings.
Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, CEO of ICTSD, emphasised the importance of multilateralism and the WTO system to helping countries achieve sustainable development through a universal, non-discriminatory system of trade.
A full video of the session, including the media event immediately before the plenary, can be found here.
