Transforming trade and development in a fractured, post-pandemic world
Since the last session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development four years ago, fractures and fault lines have deepened across the world economy, compromising the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. These fractures include widening inequalities that have fuelled popular discontent with globalization, deepening digital divides and uneven vulnerabilities to climate change. These fractures also include a growing disconnect between investment in the real economy and exuberant financial markets that have left the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development underfinanced yet have kept debt burdens growing and illicit financial flows rising. The multilateral system itself has shown increasing signs of fracturing, as it has come under mounting stress due to tensions over trade and technology and rising economic nationalism.
