Leveraging the Potential of

The IsDB initiated this endeavour and provided some financial support; the South Centre coordinated the process, while UNCTAD and the UNOSSC contributed enormously together with the South Centre and the IsDB in providing expertise and written inputs. [...] Owing to financial and technological capacity limitations, a significant aspect of SSTrC during the pandemic was the high level of people-to-people exchanges, which translated into the sharing of experiences and knowledge and the promotion of local solutions to minimise the most severe socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. [...] Despite the rebound of the global economy in the second half of 2020 and in 2021, it will take several years for world income to recover the loss from the COVID-19 shock and revert to its 2016–2019 trend (UNCTAD TDR 2021), and the war in Ukraine is placing further strain on a battered world. [...] This pandemic has exposed the lack of capacity of all developing countries to recover on their own and the need for the South to show solidarity in preserving the special and differential status for all developing countries in the WTO as a means to “harnessing the developmental benefit of international trade”. [...] The pooling of financial resources at the regional level is also needed to produce, access and distribute medicines, personal protective equipment, ventilators, and other medical devices and equipment to the people in the region Pandemics like COVID-19 have also revealed to the world the importance of scientific discoveries and medical research for human welfare.