ITC's annual meeting discusses the role of trade in achieving MDGs.

ITC's Joint Advisory Group meeting was held in Geneva on 10-11 December 2008, focusing on how trade can help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Discussions looked at the role of trade in reducing poverty, empowering women and supporting the environment, as well as ways of bringing some of the world's most disadvantaged people into the export value chain.

Unveiling ITC's strategic plan for 2009-2012, Executive Director Patricia R. Francis stressed the need for the scaling-up of ITC's global public goods and increasing the understanding and transparency of how markets work, as well as enhancing impact at country and regional levels. ITC expects to work with partners to design country and regional solutions, using national export strategies, integrated sector strategies and trade intelligence platforms.

Exports play a crucial role for the world's poorest nations. The meeting heard that to...