Statement by Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
UNCTAD16 ministerial roundtable: Making the digital economy inclusive and sustainable through cooperation
Geneva, Switzerland
21 October 2025
Honourable ministers, distinguished delegates, dear friends,
Welcome to this ministerial roundtable on the digital economy.
We have a wonderful panel, so I will be brief because we want to hear from you.
Let me be direct. We stand at the edge of two worlds.
In one, the digital economy expands at breathtaking speed. Developing economies crossed the trillion-dollar mark in digitally deliverable services exports in 2024.
Services now make up 56% of global trade and grew 9% per year last year – even as goods trade stagnated. So it is the services that are really coming as the dynamic force in global trade.
The AI market is projected to expand 25-fold in a decade, from $189 billion to nearly $5 trillion. And perhaps, you have more granular data that you will share with us.
In the other world, divides persist.
In least developed countries (LDCs), digitally deliverable services are just 20% of exports. Only one in ten adults shop online in most of Africa. Two thirds of the world is online, but only one third in LDCs can connect.
These aren't separate worlds. They're part of our one world. Our only one world.
Much hinges on whether we can bridge the gap between these two possibilities. Think, for example, of the potential.
The digital economy is the lifeblood of the service economy, whose exports are growing at almost double-digit rates.
Services, especially those digitally delivered, are fundamentally different from goods. You can tariff a container, but it is more difficult to tariff a financial transaction, digital design shared across borders, or data flowing through clouds. Services are blind to traditional trade barriers. They're blind to geography – a coder in Kigali can serve clients in Seoul as easily as one in Silicon Valley. They're often, though not always, blind to scale – a startup can reach global markets without building factories abroad.
For developing countries, this represents an unprecedented opportunity to leapfrog traditional development pathways.
A country doesn't need ports or very sophisticated highways to export services. It needs connectivity, skills and enabling digital infrastructure.
A small island state can become a hub for financial services. A landlocked country can export software globally. Women entrepreneurs can access markets without navigating complex logistics.
Realizing this promise demands cooperation on infrastructure, skills development, data governance, competition policy and regulatory frameworks that enable rather than constrain innovation.
UNCTAD, as co-lead of the Global Digital Compact's Objective 2 with UNIDO and current Chair of the UN Group on the Information Society, works with 35 partner organizations through eTrade for All to help countries build digital trade capacity. Through the Commission on Science and Technology for Development, we're advancing data governance frameworks that balance innovation with equity.
Excellencies, the outcome document being negotiated at this conference commits to bridging digital divides and supporting countries to harness emerging technologies. Translating these commitments into infrastructure investment, capacity building and policy reform will need many champions.
Some of them are in this room, on this very podium – and that is why we are so eager to hear you. And it is my honour to yield the floor to them. I thank you.