UNCTAD features resilience during COVID-19. As doors close, others open as heightened concerns over hygiene restricted cash transactions and pushed more business operations online.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) brings attention to new measures aimed at ensuring safe operations during COVID-19, and to a contingency coordination website.

Barbados fishing industry representatives and United Nations agencies have drafted a strategy to increase the value of the island’s tuna exports. If fully implemented, it could dramatically boost revenue from tuna exports, from US$303,000 in 2015 to $7.5 million in 2027. The project – a joint endeavour between UNCTAD, the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – addresses the different aspects of the national fishing industry where improvements are needed to transition from unprocessed to processed tuna exports.

The slowdown of manufacturing in China due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is disrupting world trade and could result in a $US50 billion decrease in exports across global value chains, according to estimates published by UNCTAD on 4 March. Because China has become the central manufacturing hub of many global business operations, a slowdown in Chinese production has repercussions for any given country, depending on how reliant its industries are on Chinese suppliers. According to UNCTAD estimates, the most affected sectors include precision instruments, machinery, automotive and communication equipment. Among the most affected economies are the European Union ($15.6 billion), the United States ($5.8 billion) and Japan ($5.2 billion).

The 2019 edition of the WTO’s World Trade Report highlights that services have become the most dynamic component of international trade and that its role will continue to expand in the coming decades. It stresses the need to enhance cooperation in the international community to support this expansion.