Sustainable partnerships for a connected world
Under the UN flag, ITC participated at the European Development Days 2022, which this year focused on the European Union’s new connectivity strategy, the Global Gateway.
The European Development Days is the biggest fair on development cooperation in Europe. Each year in Brussels, the European Union (EU) and its partners come together to solve global challenges to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year’s edition was hybrid as well as streamed online, with a couple of thousand people on site and a few thousand more interacting online.
This year’s focus lay on the Global Gateway, the EU’s new connectivity strategy that aims to create smart, sustainable and secure links with countries around the world for digital, climate, energy, transport and trade but also for cooperation in health or education. The Global Gateways aims up to €300 billion of investments based on democratic values, equal partnerships, environmental sustainability, safe and secure infrastructure, and thereby integrating the pivotal role of the private sector.
This is where ITC came in, animating its engagement during the event under the overarching theme of connectivity for inclusive value chains. This happened around four themes:
- Small business in digital trade.
- Data for powerful trade corridors.
- Resilient agri-food systems.
- Due diligence for sustainable value chains.
ITC was a leading partner of the high level plenary session on Smart and Sustainable Trade Corridors that looked at the opportunities and challenges for a greener and resilient global connectivity. In addition, ITC engaged through six other sessions on trade topics related to green infrastructure, digital innovation, digitalization, sustainable value chains, youth and the African continental integration, and which included brainstorming sessions, project presentations, lab ideas and debates.
ITC also had the chance to interact with the event’s high-level guests from Belize, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Lesotho, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, the Republic of Congo and Zambia. The EU’s cooperation in the Gambia and Eswatini were featured at ITC’s stand and through its photo exhibition titles “Small Businesses, Good Trade and the Sustainable Development Goals - Stories of resilience, hope, innovation and enthusiasm.”
