Statement by

Mr. Mohammad Ghorbanpour

First Secretary

Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

 Before the Sixth Committee, UNGA 76

On Agenda Item 80: “Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its fifty-fourth session”

New York, 18 October 2021

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Madame Chairperson,

At the outset, my delegation would like to extend its gratitude to Ambassador Philbert Johnson, Chair of the 54th session of Commission on International Trade Law, and the Secretariat for their valuable efforts in preparing the working documents as well as for their professional and efficient work in facilitating the session despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus. We also congratulate the UNCITRAL Secretariat for organizing various side events, which were extremely fruitful for the future work of the Commission.

We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome the idea of the UNCITRAL Academy and commend the Secretariat for launching the first UNCITRAL online training course - “Introduction to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law” - on the 12th of July 2021.

Madame Chairperson,

We appreciate the continuous efforts put forth by the UNCITRAL regarding the regulation of different aspects of Small and Medium Enterprises and believe the previously finalized text, the Legislative Guide on Limited Liability, will prove beneficial with the proper promotion.

The Islamic Republic of Iran greatly appreciates the work of Working Group II for its efforts towards preparing consistent rules and resolving legal concerns regarding ‘mediation’. We are of the view that the triple documents complementing Mediation Model Law (a.k.a. Guide to Enactment, Rules and Notes) will also prove very useful in practice.

 While the discussions on Working Group III have exhibited the potential to become somewhat controversial and challenging, we believe and hope that the Working Group shall be able to overcome the difficulties it may face through resorting to the capacity of the Secretariat and authentic leadership.

The Islamic Republic of Iran attaches great importance to the topic of digital economy, which will be on the agenda of Working Group IV, and is looking forward to receiving complementary analytical reports from the Secretariat that will provide a wider scope on the different aspects of Digital Economy.

 Under the excellent leadership of its Chair, Working Group V has diligently worked towards creating a simplified insolvency regime. We anticipate that fruitful discussions will commence in the near future that can better lead to a successful outcome for the next project on asset tracing and recovery.

With respect to Working Group VI, we shall once again refer to the potential negative impacts to the unprecedented practice of consideration of texts prepared by NGOs and turning them into UN conventions.

Furthermore, my delegation welcomes the continuation of long-standing collaboration among the UNCITRAL, HccH as well as the UNIDROIT and is of the view that this close co-ordination highlights the desirability for greater clarification of the interaction between the instruments produced by the three organizations.

We would also like to bring your attention to the outcome of the discussions on Enlarging UNCITRAL Membership as they were not in favor of equitable geographical distribution among regional groups. Moreover, the Asian and African Groups have remained further under-represented as well. However, states opposing this outcome agreed to the related resolution in the spirit of compromise. Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran encourages and expects that the matter of current inequitable representation and observation of un-heard voices in the Commission will be further explored and kept on the agenda.

Madame Chairperson,

While the pandemic has unquestionably had negative consequences on trade which led to the imposition of worldwide trade restrictions, it would be remiss of me if I did not draw the attention of the Sixth Committee to the negative role of Unilateral Coercive Measures. Such measures have severely impeded trade between states on a much more widespread and multi-national scale that continues to affect the broader goal of the UNCITRAL in promoting international trade. 

Finally, we would like to commend the efforts of UNCITRAL Members and the Secretariat in continuing to promote the rule of law as well as harmonization of international trade law.

I thank you, Madame Chairperson.