FGI2020 - Globalization at the Crossroads: Risk, Resilience and Recalibration in Global Trade and Value Chains

Join the event on 15 December 2020 between 15:00-16:30 (CET) either by direct registration via Zoom, or follow the Youtube livestream.

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting our understanding and approach to globalization to the test. The cumulative effect of supply bottlenecks and falling consumer demand coupled with increasing calls for domestic production of (essential) goods is challenging the existing global architecture of production, trade and investment flows.

Yet, the pandemic is only the latest in a series of global shocks and emerging mega-trends that have shaken the pillars of international production networks. Indeed, COVID-19 seems to be accelerating some of the trends that were already manifesting within the world’s value chains, including the growing role of digitization, regionalization of production networks, and the focus on proximity to key consumer markets.

Companies and governments alike are currently reassessing the way goods flow across borders, and they are in search of targeted solutions for tackling fragility in industry supply chains. Thus, the process of recalibration of global trade and production networks is also expected to bring to the forefront novel industrial policy approaches to reap the benefits from GVCs in both developed and developing economies.

Those are some of the key questions to be discussed at the virtual event organised by UNIDO in cooperation with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the Kiel Centre for Globalization.

• How can we understand value chain risk as a result of external shocks and emerging mega-trend and do we need to rethink existing approaches to international production and global sourcing?
• What options do companies have for improving resilience of their global footprint?
• How can policy and international cooperation help build resilience? Are there already “good practices” at the horizon?

• The 2019 Forum on Globalization and Industrialization, The Future of Global Value Chains – How the Fourth Industrial Revolution is Changing Global Production Networks, took place at the headquarters of UNIDO on 19 November 2019. It was the fourth in a series of annual forums jointly organized by UNIDO and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel) to focus on issues related to global production, trade and investment. 

  During the event, policymakers, and representatives from international organizations, academia and business discussed the challenges and opportunities of technological shifts for global value chains (GVCs) to drive inclusive and sustainable development. The discussions served to support evidence-based policymaking at the international level and to facilitate an exchange of ideas.

  Find full press release here.

  Dedicated Youtube playlist is available here.

World-renowned policy experts and academics, as well as high-level practitioners and policymakers came together on 18 June 2018 for the Forum on Globalization and Industrialization to explore the potential of Global Value Chains (GVCs) for driving structural change.

Participation in GVCs provides important opportunities for firms to access international markets, absorb new technology, and rapidly expand their economies of scale. However, technology requirements for entering into GVCs are more demanding than ever and there is a tangible risk that developing economies will remain trapped in lower value-added activities along the value chains.

Find full press release here.

Dedicated Youtube playlist is available here.

Global value chains (GVCs) can be the world’s engine for development if they are shaped to be inclusive and sustainable, concluded participants of a conference organized by UNIDO and the Kiel Center for Globalization of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy on 19 September 2017 in Kiel.

Policymakers, academics and representatives of international organizations and the private sector gathered in Kiel, Germany, to explore the future of GVCs. In particular, the participants explored the measures and policies that need to be put in place to make them more inclusive and sustainable, as well as the opportunities and challenges brought by digitalization.

Find full press release here.

World-renowned policy experts and academics, as well as high-level practitioners and policy makers, gathered in Vienna from 14 to 15 September for a conference that looked at current trends and potential perspectives related to international investment flows.

Organized by UNIDO and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the event took place at the Vienna International Centre.

Find full press release here.