Topic: 2024-Supply Chain Stability
Country: Venezuela
Delegate Name: Rekshitha Rajeshkumar Sharmila
There are some widespread threats to supply chains for essential products and goods in the twenty-first century. Supply chains for grains, semiconductors, and critical goods that manufacture chemicals have been threatened by events around the world, labor shortages, and inefficiencies in the way the supply chains are managed. This COVID-19 pandemic brought devastating and long-lasting disruptions to international supply chains, depleting stockpiles of important goods and forever changing the ways businesses deploy labor and transport goods during epidemics. Moreover, conflicts and political tensions-including those between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, and in the South China Sea-endanger supplies of key goods to the developed and developing worlds. Natural disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, and tropical storms, further interfere with shipping capabilities and destroy key facilities. Events like the 2021 obstruction of the Suez Canal and inefficiencies in rail accentuate the vulnerabilities in maintaining the transport of goods. The role that stable supply chains have for global economic stability and quality of life underlines the importance of these problems being addressed.
Venezuela is conscious that stable supply chains are paramount, considering the country’s great reliance on importation for staples and the fact that it needs solid pathways of exportation for its oil and other commodities. The economic impact felt within the country due to disruptions in global supply chains has made addressing the vulnerabilities paramount. Domestically, steps have been taken to facilitate the streamlining of logistics and the promotion of efficient port infrastructure. Internationally, Venezuela has participated in dialogues and agreements aimed at enhancing supply chain resilience, including supporting United Nations initiatives focused on sustainable supply chain practices. The country is a member of various organizations that address supply chain issues and has actively participated in conventions and treaties aimed at global economic stability.
Venezuela will propose a multi-dimensional approach toward stability in global supply chains, improving coordination among the United Nations, national governments, and businesses in a way that could strengthen supply chains and make them safer through new business practices. Venezuela proposes that agreements between nations be established to eliminate unnecessary inefficiencies in supply chains that create waste. There is also a need for strategies to enhance resilience against events from around the world: pandemics, wars, and natural disasters. Specifically, he has called for a global fund to deal with supply chain resilience projects, more investment in infrastructure, and the establishment of international standards regarding supply chain management. Venezuela urges the international community to focus on these priorities as one key issue: stable, reliable supply chains underpin global economic stability and improvement in living standards around the world.
