1.Brief Introduction

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which was established by the General Assembly in 1964, is the United Nations body responsible for dealing with development issues as they relate to international trade – a main driver of sustainable development. The goals of UNCTAD are to maximize the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries, and to assist them in their efforts to integrate into the world economy on an equitable basis, through its three pillars: policy analysis, consensus building and technical assistance.

The present UNCTAD Secretary-General is Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi from Kenya since September 1,2013.

UNCTAD currently has 195 member States, and its headquarter is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

UNCTAD's work programme is established at ministerial conferences which take place every four years. The current programme of work is framed by the Nairobi Maafikiano, approved in July 2016 at UNCTAD XIV held in Nairobi, the most recent quadrennial ministerial conference. The Trade and Development Board (TDB) oversees the activities of UNCTAD. There are one regular TDB session and up to three executive sessions per year. There are two Commissions under TDB, namely Trade and Development Commission and Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission.

UNCTAD stages a World Investment Forum, every two years, which is the pre-eminent global platform for investment and development. UNCTAD also brings together major players in the area of e-commerce through the UNCTAD e-commerce Week; and in the area of commodities through the Global Commodities Forum.

UNCTAD publishes several Flagship Reports every year, such as Trade and Development Report, World Investment Report, Economic Development in Africa Report and The Least Developed Countries Report.

2.China and UNCTAD

For a long time, China and UNCTAD have been enjoying good bilateral relations, and have conducted fruitful cooperation in trade, investment and other fields, which supports not only the development of China but also the development of other developing countries. The early cooperation mainly focused on GSP, trade network construction, human resources training and technical consultation. Recently, the cooperation has been upgraded by focusing on capacity building and knowledge sharing to achieve the SDGs by developing countries.