Abstract

The world is slowly turning into a global village that borders once stood between cultures. In
economic terms, we can say that there is a growing interdependence of nations around the globe
fostered through cross-border trade.

Globalization, which lifted many corners of the world out of poverty, has opened up great
opportunities for both developed and developing economies to join into the same playground;
however, it still raised tremendous challenges to the United Nations (UN) to ensure a fair and
effective economic intergration among countries. With the foundation of United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), it marked a turning point in international
economic relations, representing the first major endeavour to examine all the issues of world
trade, with special reference to the needs of developing countries. As a developing economy, it is
essential for Vietnam to acknowledge the principles, characteristics, programs as well as
activities of both UN and UNCTAD, so as to fully exploit the potential collaboration and
technical assistance projects to achieve the sustainable development goals.

This paper provides an brief overview on UN and UNCTAD, especially in terms of basic
principles, activities and key contributions of the organization to its members and the world as a
whole since its foundation. Then, we aims to analysize the relationship between UNCTAD and
the government of Vietnam, including assessing the effectiveness of bilateral projects, the
drawbacks remained and the scope for futher cooperation; in which filed can we promote the
collaboration and assistance from UNCTAD?
 Introduction

Improving people’s well-being has always been one of the main priorities of the UN since the
starting point in 1945, which was clearly defined as to “achieve international co-operation in
solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character and
in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” Nowadays, the view of development
is broadened, in which the sustainable development goals - development that promotes
prosperity and economic opportunity, social well-being, and environment protection – is the
ultimate goal for every country.

This sustainable development is also the target for the establishment of UNCTAD. In the world
of greater economic intergration, the “trade gap”, place of developing countries in the world
market has become a big concern. The working of the GATT (General Agreement on Trade and
Tariff) – the basic principles for WTO (World Trade Organization) used to be claimed for the
weak bargaining position (in tariff reduction negotiations) of the less developed countries. Thus,
the UNCTAD was created for the desire to have some new institutional arrangements to deal
with problems of world trade and development. UNCTAD has progressively evolved into an
knowledge-based institution to help shape current policy debates and thinking on development
through technical assistance on policies to developing countries, so that domestic policies and
international action are mutually supportive in bringing about sustainable development.

So far, Vietnam has already been one of eight pilot "Delivering as One" countries implementing
UN reform at the country level. For the past ten years, Vietnam has emerged as one of the most
significant economic success stories with rapid economic growth rate and the living standards of
most Vietnamese people has been improved. However, a significant proportion of the population
remains poor. Nearly 70 % of people live in rural areas and this situation will be maintained for
long, despite rapid urbanisation. The support and other programmes from UNCTAD, for both
finance, trade, investment, technology will be able to open up bigger scope for developing and
promoting economic growth in Vietnam. In 2017, UNCTAD’s Secretary General Mukhisa
Kituyi said he agreed with the proposal of Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue on the three-
way cooperation model between Vietnam and UNCTAD and African countries."UNCTAD
wishes to cooperate with Vietnam and I will personally promote this cooperation in my second
term," said Mukhisa Kituyi. The opportunity to collaborate is definitely worth more
consideration from the government.
 Conclusion

Considering what UNCTAD have achieved since its formation as well as its impacts on the
world trading system, there is no doubt that UNCTAD is a milestone in international economic
relations. The principles and characteristics of UNCTAD aims to create a more effective
economic integration for developing countries, through doing analysis, offering technical support
from trade, finance to entrepreneurship and innovation. However, it is still a long way ahead for
UNCTAD to fully achieve the target of promoting the world’s sustainable development because
it is difficult to make every developing country to accept and follow UNCTAD’s proposals.

Vietnam has established cooperative relationship with UNCTAD since 1995, primarily on trade
facilitation, management of public debt and foreign direct investment. Many agreements have
been signed between UNCTAD and the government of Vietnam, bringing about opportunities
and helpful assistance on government’s policy to achieve Vietnam’s growth agenda. UNCTAD
also appreciates Vietnam’s effort to promote comprehensive partnership, presenting a striking
example of revolution, getting out of poverty with rapid economic growth rate and moving
toward a sustainability.

However, there are unlimited potentials, besides trade and debt management, needs further
consideration in order to be fully exploited. UNCTAD programme which focuses on
technological support and innovation, such as Empretec – the UNCTAD Entrepreneurial
Development Programme, can be a great help for Vietnam’s young start-up, to enhance our
position and competitive advantages in global market, especially in the context of the Fourth
Industrial Revolution. More practical actions, more bilateral agreements need to be taken
actualize the expected proposals and benefits.

https://business.un.org/en/entities/4

https://unctad.org/en/Pages/aboutus.aspx

https://unctad.org/en/pages/newsdetails.aspx?OriginalVersionID=1561

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