Intergovernmental cooperation between producers and consumers of commodities takes place in the form of international commodity agreements (ICAs) and international study groups (ISGs).

These, as well as the FAO Intergovernmental Groups and Sub-Groups on individual agricultural commodities have been designated by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) as International Commodity Bodies (ICBs) eligible for the CFC projects.

International Commodity Bodies (ICBs) are independent and autonomous legal personalities with their respective Terms of Reference, Rules of Procedure and Board as a highest authority. Provisions of ICAs and ISGs are administered by respective international commodity organizations.

The current mandate and the aim of UNCTAD's work in this area is to cooperate with ICBs, FAO and CFC, by assisting them at their requests and also to benefit from their special expertise on individual commodities with respect to both provision of commodity information and analytical work.

As most of ICAs and ISGs were set up as a result of the UN Conferences on respective commodities organized and serviced by UNCTAD, an important segment of work in this area is to convene and service, United Nations Conferences and meetings related to the negotiations, renegotiations or functioning of new agreements. UNCTAD has a status of observer to all ICBs.

Download: A Brief on International Commodity Bodies (ICBs)