UNCTAD, which is governed by its 194 member States, is the United Nations body responsible for dealing with

development issues, particularly international trade the main driver of development. The creation of

UNCTAD in 1964 was based on concerns of developing countries over the international market,
multi-national corporations, and great disparity between developed nations and developing
nations. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was established to provide
a forum where the developing countries could discuss the problems relating to their economic
development. The organisation grew from the view that existing institutions like GATT (now
replaced by the World Trade Organization, WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
and World Bank were not properly organized to handle the particular problems of developing
countries. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, UNCTAD was closely associated with the idea of
a New International Economic Order (NIEO). The New International Economic Order (NIEO)
was a set of proposals put forward during the 1970s by some developing countries through
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to promote their interests by
improving their terms of trade, increasing development assistance, developed-country tariff
reductions, and other means. It was meant to be a revision of the international economic system
in favour of Third World countries, replacing the Bretton Woods system, which had benefited the
leading states that had created itespecially the United States.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established as a
subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly to promote the integration of developing
countries into the world economy in order to accelerate their development. At the first conference,
UNCTAD-I, in Geneva in 1964, the developing countries established the Group of 77 to voice their
concerns (today, the G77 has 131 members). At the time, many developing countries were only
recently independent from colonial rule, and made historic challenges to developed countries
demanding economic and political independence.

Some of the most important objectives and functions of UNCTAD are given below:Objectives
The objective of UNCTAD is (a) to reduce and eventually eliminate the trade gap between the
developed and developing Countries, and (b) and to accelerate the rate of economic growth of the
developing world.
Functions:
The main Functions of the UNCTAD are:

(i) To promote international trade between developed and developing countries with a view to
accelerate economic development.
(ii) To formulate principles and policies on international trade and related problems of economic
development.
(iii) To make proposals for putting its principles and policies into effect, (iv) To negotiate trade
agreements.
(iv) To review and facilitate the coordination of activities of the other U.N. institutions in the field
of international trade.
(v) To function as a centre for a harmonious trade and related documents in development
policies of governments.
Activities:
The important activities of UNCTAD include (a) research and support of negotiations for
commodity agreements; (b) technical elaboration of new trade schemes; and (c) various
promotional activities designed to help developing countries in the areas of trade and capital
flows.