General context

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established in 1964 as a body of the United Nations General Assembly and initially functioned as an instrument to counter-balance the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

With a markedly economic outlook focusing on co-operation and development, UNCTAD mainly aims to increase international trade to accelerate economic development in the less advanced countries. Over the years it has developed its own mechanisms to approach and handle issues concerning development and international trade.

It is in this context that the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) was founded as a subsidiary organ of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), with the main goals of monitoring global scientific and technological trends and assessing their impact on development. It also aims to encourage the progress of scientific and technological knowledge in the less developed countries and in that regard seeks to produce recommendations and guidelines that enable the creation of effective development policies.

After the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in 2003 and 2005, the CSTD began to perform a function of following and monitoring application of the recommendations agreed to in 2005 in Tunis.

In line with the tradition launched by the definition of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the CSTD opened its doors to the private sector to promote the creation of public/private partnerships to help implement the WSIS recommendations in the context of telecommunications and information society, so as to reduce the digital divide separating the more from the less advanced countries.

In this context ANACOM has supported and participated in incentives which seek to promote a common culture and solidarity between Portuguese speaking countries, especially within the scope of the CPLP, with the creation in 2008 of the Association of CPLP Communications and Telecommunications Regulators.

From a more global perspective, relations with other international agencies (World Bank, InfoDev Programme, CCTD) have intensified, following a move towards the accompaniment of new international cooperation models, which aim to establish partnerships and share information between the various donors as well as to obtain an optimisation of resources.

Consult:

Meetings http://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=278331

Further information:

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) http://www.anacom.pt/disclaimer_links.jsp?contentId=595117&fileId=593436&channel=graphic&backContentId=595117