UN commodities forum to focus on upskilling workers to cut exports' dependence

GENEVA, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The 2018 Global Commodities Forum is to focus on building the human skills needed to add value to raw materials and provide decent work, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said Wednesday.

UN data shows more than 90 developing economies are dependent on commodity exports.

So, UNCTAD's eighth Global Commodities Forum in Geneva on April 23-24 April is to focus on helping commodity-dependent developing countries to move up the value chain and achieve their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), said UNCTAD.

"Lack of skilled workers dissuades investment in value-added activities, which, in turn, limits incentives for young adults to acquire more skills," the chief of UNCTAD's commodity implementation and outreach section Yanchun Zhang said at a press conference here.

Governments, civil society and private sector stakeholders will gather in Geneva for the forum.

Zhang said moving up the value chain would help commodity-dependent developing countries achieve their SDGs, particularly Goal 4 (on professional education), Goal 8 (on providing decent work) and Goal 9 (on industrial development).

"Those workers seeking careers in skilled fields often choose to pursue education and jobs abroad, fueling a brain drain from developing countries, and further dissuading investments in industrial development. It's a vicious circle," she said.

Calibrating skill-building programs to the needs of employers can be tricky, said, Kris Terauds, an economist in UNCTAD's Commodity Policy Implementation and Outreach Section.

He said many developing countries add little value to commodities, by transforming them into finished or semi-finished goods, and they struggle to diversify into other manufacturing sectors, which constrains the industrialization of their economies.

"These countries rely on exports of unprocessed commodities, such as agricultural produce, mineral ores or crude oil, for 60 percent or more of the total value of their merchandise exports," said Terauds.

UNCTAD figures show that in 61 developing countries more than 80 percent of economic activity depended on commodity exports, with severe economic, environmental and social consequences, not least due to volatile prices playing havoc with macroeconomic management.

In most developing countries, agriculture is predominantly undertaken by labor-intensive small farms that employ manual techniques and offer few industrial prospects.

The mineral, oil and gas sectors usually provide developing countries with some limited technology transfer and skilled jobs, for example, related to the infrastructure used to extract crude oil or transport natural gas.

"Nevertheless, in both agricultural and mineral value chains, value-added activities generally offer the greatest potential for technological and human capital development," said Terauds. Enditem