Statement by India at the 72nd Regular Session of the Trade and Development Board, UNCTAD under ITEM 2: General Debate, delivered by Mr. Gaurav Kumar Thakur, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of India, Geneva, 28 November 2025

Thank you Mr. President,

My delegation extends our warm felicitations to you Mr. President on your election as the President of the Trade and Development Board as well as to other distinguished members of the bureau.

We also acknowledge the leadership of Secretary General Madam Grynspan and hard work put by the UNCTAD Secretariat in facilitating the successful convening of UNCTAD XVI and for the reports presented at this session of Trade and Development Board.

India aligns itself with the statement delivered by Peru on behalf of the Group of 77 and China and by Malaysia representing the Asia-Pacific Group.

We equally affirm the principles embedded within the UNCTAD XVI Geneva Consensus, which demands rigorous, truthful and effective implementation, by prioritizing the development imperatives, and retain its focus on the issues faced by developing countries.

Mr. President,

The contemporary global landscape confronts us with formidable, and interconnected challenges.

Simultaneously, we witness troubling attempts to diminish the credibility of rules-based multilateral trading system, the proliferation of non-market practices, and discriminatory tariff and non-tariff barriers that disproportionately burden developing states.

My delegation is of the view that it is within this context that development must serve as the lodestar of all deliberations within UNCTAD. The Global South requires an unambiguous commitment: that every policy instrument, every institutional mechanism, and every negotiating outcome must be calibrated to advance development outcomes, poverty alleviation, and inclusive economic transformation.

The UNCTAD XVI Geneva Consensus articulates a clear mandate for institutional response on these parameters. We call for its implementation that centres development in trade and development, and all other interrelated areas.

To this end, UNCTAD must assist countries in integrating emerging digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and digital public infrastructure, for development-centric trade architecture and inclusive economic participation.

To ensure that new technology does not create new divides is of primary importance. In this, solutions from Global South should be our eminent choices as they are developed with a low GDP per capita footprint and keeping special circumstances of global south in mind.

India's own development journey can provide a good template to address some of developmental challenges. And we stand ready to share with everybody the various initiatives and the various practices that we are trying to introduce in India.

We have lifted more than 250 million individuals from poverty over the preceding decade, transforming demographic constituencies into consumer bases that generate substantial aggregate demand. Our macroeconomic fundamentals, encompassing sustained investment in infrastructure, institutional resilience, and democratic governance have positioned India as the fastest-growing major economy globally.

Additionally, bridging digital divides through public digital infrastructure, demonstrated by our billion-strong internet user base and substantial technology adoption among our youthful demographic, provides templates for inclusive technological integration.

Mr. President

South-South cooperation, operationalized through concrete institutional arrangements, can provide authentic pathways to address systemic vulnerabilities. This includes demand and supply chain diversification and access to critical minerals and agricultural inputs, all of which have become critical for food security, energy security, and economic transformation.

UNCTAD XVI Geneva Consensus implementation must prioritize these development dimensions. We therefore call upon this Board to ensure that operational mandates, programmatic initiatives, and institutional resource allocation explicitly advance development outcomes in vulnerable economies.

India reaffirms its commitment to collaborate with all Member States and with UNCTAD in operationalizing the Geneva consensus and work together towards addressing our shared developmental challenges.

Thank you.

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