Commodities
A/RES/74/204
positive socioeconomic transformation in Africa within the next 50 years, its
continental programme embedded in the resolutions of the General Assembly on the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development, and regional initiatives,
Reaffirming also that, in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, Heads of State and
Government expressed concern about the excessive volatility of commodity prices,
including for food and agriculture, and its consequences for global food security and
improved nutrition outcomes, noted the Agricultural Market Information System
hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and called for
the provision of access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and
markets, consistent with sustainable management practices as well as initiatives that
add value to outputs from small-scale fishers, and noting that, in The State of Food
Security and Nutrition in the World 2019: Safeguarding against Economic Slowdowns
and Downturns, the Food and Agriculture Organization highlighted that 80 per cent
of the countries – 52 out of 65 – with a rise in hunger and an increase in
undernourishment during recent economic slowdowns and downturns are countries
whose economies are highly dependent on primary commodities for export and/or
import,
Recalling the outcome of the fourteenth session of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development, 13 and taking note of the decisions and agreed
conclusions on commodities adopted by the Trade and Development Board and its
subsidiary bodies,
Taking note of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Commodities and Development Reports, its State of Commodity Dependence reports
and its note on commodity dependence and the Sustainable Development Goals,
noting the role that the Conference has been playing as an institution in looking at the
interaction between commodity markets and economic development and in the
elaboration of the concept of commodity-dependent developing countries,
Underlining the importance of advancing sustainable consumption and
production patterns,
Noting with concern that the prices of most commodities exhibited a downward
trend, driven by a variety of factors relating to supply and demand and changing
inventories,
Recognizing that commodity price volatility, including excessive volatility, can
have adverse impacts on both producer and consumer countries, particularly in
commodity-dependent countries, and noting with concern that this can undermine
their development efforts, as it could discourage investment, widen trade deficits and
aggravate household poverty,
Noting that commodity price movements have both macroeconomic and
microeconomic implications for commodity-dependent developing countries, as well
as net commodity-importing developing countries, and further noting that rises in
commodity prices may contribute to improvements by exporting countries in their
export and fiscal revenue, allowing them to increase current and capital government
expenditure, and that, by contrast, a decline in commodity prices may lead to
shortfalls in export and fiscal earnings and the inability of Governments to deliver
basic goods and services,
Expressing concern that the global economy has yet to recover completely and
remains in a challenging phase, notwithstanding the recent cyclical pickup in global
economic activity, that growth remains weak in many countries and includes subdued
trade growth, volatile capital flows, widespread fiscal strains and unsustainable debt
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19-22417
See TD/519, TD/519/Add.1, TD/519/Add.2 and TD/519/Add.2/Corr.1.
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