The 5th UNCTAD Youth forum will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 20 to 23 October 2025 as part of the 16th Ministerial conference of UNCTAD. The theme is “Shaping the future: Driving economic transformation for equitable, inclusive and sustainable development”. The forum is open to students or young professionals aged 18 to 30, who are interested in trade and development issues, and want to debate with other youth from around the world.
Eligibility Criteria UNCTAD will pre-select forum participants, who should meet the following criteria:
Be between the ages of 18 and 30.
Be able to speak and understand English.
Have experience (from studies or work) in the areas of UNCTAD’s work/focus.
Evidence of projects related to trade and development (academic and professional) will be considered as experience in the field.
Have submitted the application to participate with a supporting video
Have met the above criteria and have been selected for participation by having received a registration link to the Youth Forum.
Selection criteria The UNCTAD Youth Forum is designed for youth participants from around the world. The selection criteria will be based on principles of equitable geographical representation, balanced gender distribution, diversity of backgrounds (e.g. age, areas of studies and additional experience), and the quality of the supporting material attached to the applications, (e.g. profile and originality in the video).
A selection committee from UNCTAD will review the applications and select the participants for the Youth Forum. An announcement will be made on social media once the selection process has been finalized. Once the selection process is complete, successful candidates will receive a link for official registration to the Forum. We encourage early applications, especially for those who may require additional time to apply for a visa to enter Switzerland.
Funding Participants are expected to identify their own sources of funding for participation.
Conditions to Participate Full-time attendance at the Forum by the selected participants is encouraged. Participants should be committed to investing time in preparing for and actively participating in the Youth Forum.
Application process Click here and fill in the online application form. Please ensure that you:
Create a short video (of maximum duration of two minutes and in mp4 format only) explaining your motivation for wanting to participate in the UNCTAD Youth Forum. Creativity and originality are encouraged. Upload the video to either YouTube or Vimeo as explained below: To YouTube: Sign into your YouTube account. Click on Upload at the top of the page. Select the video you would like to upload. Click Publish to finish uploading. Set the video privacy setting to Unlisted. Click Done to finish the upload and click Share to privately share your video. For more guidance, please click here. To Vimeo: Sign into your Vimeo account. Click the “Upload Video” button which is located on the home page of the site; Once you click the upload link, you will be taken to the upload page; Click the “Choose a File to Upload” button which will launch an upload dialog box. Choose the file that you want to upload and then click on “Select”. For more guidance, please click here. Fully complete the online application form, including the URL of your video and send it.
