Dialogue on Green Economy Trade Opportunities

SAWTEE participated in the “Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Trade Opportunities in the Context of a Green Economy Transition” in Rio de Janerio, held on the sidelines of the Rio+20, on 18 June. The event was jointly organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and the International Trade Centre (ITC). The meeting discussed trade opportunities for developing countries in the context of the transition to a green economy in order to enhance development opportunities, poverty eradication and social equity.

SAWTEE was represented in the panel discussion on policy lessons that also saw the participation of Mr Ib Petersen, State Secretary for Development Policy, Denmark. SAWTEE strongly raised the issue of the need to enhance the effectiveness of Aid for Trade (AfT), highlighted the potential to leverage AfT for exploiting green-economy export opportunities by targeting it at alleviating supply-side constraints facing developing countries in general and least-developed countries in particular, and emphasized the need to establish coherence and synergy between AfT and climate finance. SAWTEE was represented by Paras Kharel, Research Coordinator in the panel, who made the presentation on “Aid for Trade: Issues and way forward in the context of sustainable development”.