Second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference

Thematic session 2: Sustainable transport and regional development

(Delivered virtually)

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

The pandemic has underscored the need for national and regional coordination of trade and transport procedures to ensure that ports, borders and inland terminals remain operational,

and that goods reach their destination and the people in need.

Automation and digitalization are key to respond efficiently to the challenges in front of us.

Particularly, we need to look at freight transport, including maritime transport which handles over 80 percent of world merchandise trade.

Enhancing freight transport preparedness and building resilience in the face of multi-hazard shocks and disruptions are central. Managing risk, rather than managing disasters, should be the priority.

For this, the understanding and technical knowledge among policymakers must be enhanced.

New criteria and metrics for risk management must be mainstreamed into relevant transport policies.

Our work under the UN-wide project on transport connectivity in the time of pandemics did precisely this.

Looking further ahead, we need to align freight transport with the SDGs and climate action targets.

This includes a range of issues, such as improving connectivity, integrating sustainability, building resilience, and addressing physical and non-physical barriers.

UNCTAD has a wealth of experience in this area.

For instance, in the Northern and Central corridor in East Africa, we developed capacity building tools and instruments to help countries and corridors identify challenges and priorities to promote sustainable freight transport systems.

In the Trans-Saharan Road Corridor, we have built institutional capacity through corridor management arrangements and regulatory frameworks.

In Angola, we have provided technical assistance to leverage Public Private Partnerships for transport infrastructure and logistics hubs to promote regional integration.

We are also providing support for soft infrastructure solutions, such as trade facilitation and transit solutions based on international legal instruments, in particular the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

We help build sustainable coordination institutions such as National Trade Facilitation Committees.  

Our signature programme on trade and customs automation - ASYCUDA - has assisted more than 90 countries and territories in modernizing customs operations, improving revenue collection and facilitating trade efficiency and competitiveness through substantially reducing transaction time and costs.

Let me outline the three actions I consider priority for UNCTAD and the UN system in this area.

First, we must continue providing tailored capacity building and technical assistance to support countries design and implement sustainable and resilient freight transportation systems.

Therein, we must, particularly, support technology and innovation uptake, logistics and trade procedures.

Second, we need to promote an integrated and climate-smart approach to trade and transport facilitation. Coordination of stakeholders and actions are key.

Third, the UN and development partners should scale up investment in smart, green, and resilient transport infrastructure and services.

I want to finish with a few further reflections.

In the short term, we need to address the surge in freight costs resulting from bottlenecks in the shipping market.

These bottlenecks are a stumbling stone for the trade recovery.

The need for resources is substantial and will also require domestic resources. How can such resources be best mobilized is a critical question.

The COVID pandemic has likely led to lasting changes in production, consumption and supply chains. We need to understand the implications of these changes on trade and transport, including issues such as first and last mile, the way to avoid that an empty container could circulate, cross-border interconnectivity and digitalization including the best use of internet of things, just to name a few.

I leave it here and wish you a fruitful meeting.