Thursday, October 11, 2018 — The first AI powered-platform for trade negotiations recently introduced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva could bring major advances that can strengthen the voice of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the international arena by allowing for deeper and more targeted data analysis which could lead to better negotiating outcomes.

The AI system is designed to analyze hundreds of pages of trade agreements with outstanding accuracy and speed that far exceed human capacity. A recent test confirmed the ability of the platform to review five pages of a trade agreement in 26 seconds while the usual time taken to undertake an analysis of the same documents by lawyers approximately 92 minutes.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently introduced this Cognitive Trade Advisor at the Public Forum at the World Trade Organisation, an annual public advocacy and discussion forum.

The artificial intelligence technology powered platform aims to facilitate international trade negotiations especially for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The presentation of the innovative system took place at the high level meeting in Geneva which brought together representatives from across the United Nations membership including Head of the OECS Geneva Mission, Stephen Fevrier.

The Cognitive Trade Advisor was jointly invented by the UNCTAD, the Brazilian branch of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Brazil) and IBM Brazil.

Head of the OECS Geneva Mission Stephen Fevrier outlined the potential critical role of the platform in assisting negotiators representing Small Island Developing States by simplifying the complexity of trade agreements

“We acknowledge the importance of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence as negotiating tools, but critically as a catalyst for commercial opportunities and private sector decision making for Small Island Developing States” Mr. Fevrier said.

ICC Brazil and its partners are working towards making the artificial intelligence platform available to both trade negotiators and industry interests as the technology matures.