ABSTRACT
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is the principal organ of the General Assembly in the field of trade and development. It was established as a permanent intergovernmental body in 1964 in Geneva as a result of the first session of the Conference, with a view to accelerating economic growth and development, particularly that of the developing countries. The Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization is an institutional and procedural instrument. It provides for a set of institutional arrangements by which specific aspects of international or national policy can be made the subject of contractual obligations which could be enforced eventually through recourse to trade sanctions. The Trade and Development Board considered the impact of environment-related policies on export competitiveness and market access. The analysis and debate on the issue, undertaken in UNCTAD's intergovernmental bodies, has shown that the complexity of the linkages between trade and environment pose significant challenges to the pursuit of sustainable development.
