United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) A permanent agency of the UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION, with its headquarters in Geneva. It was established in 1964 to promote international trade and economic growth. The Conference, which meets every four years, called for discrimination in favour of the developing countries, since their industrial products are often subject to quotas and tariffs. UNCTAD has played an important role in devising economic measures to secure advantageous prices for primary commodities and to ensure preferential tariff treatment for developing countries' manufactured goods. In 1968 it proposed that developed countries should give 1% of their gross national product in aid to developing countries, but the gap between rich and poor countries continued to widen (BRANDT REPORT), aggravated by a steady decline in the price of many basic world commodities, which the developing countries produce. Representatives from 150 countries attended its eighth full session in 1992, when it was agreed that increased emphasis in developing countries on domestic policy reforms and efficiency was needed in a changed international climate.