The UNCTAD bridges gap between traders

By Neo Kolane

The United Nation in Lesotho will hold a UNCTAD 15 global conference under the theme ‘from inequality and vulnerability to prosperity for all’ on Thursday this week.

According to UN Lesotho, the UNCTAD 15 conference will establish the organisation’s work priorities for the next four years and formulate global policy recommendations. It presents an opportunity for developers and developing countries to jointly take bold actions to reduce inequality and vulnerability and offer hope and direction to a world struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Lesotho depends heavily on trade with South Africa which was intermittently disrupted due to border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst both formal and informal trifecta have been affected, formal, mainly medium-sized, traders have generally been able to navigate border closures and to maintain their trade routes and supply chain.

“However, informal and semi-sized formal traders have experienced much greater disruption.

“Those that have been able to maintain some trade have had to navigate more restrictive informal border crossings, which offer less protection, and thus frequently increase their exposure to vulnerability, particularly in the case of female traders,” the UN statement says.