B20 trade task force calls for immediate implementation of Bali agenda

  • 11 February 2015
Investment

Business leaders meeting to outline priority actions for G20 leaders and trade ministers have called for immediate action to implement all elements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Bali Package.

In line with commitments made at the Brisbane G20 Summit in 2014, business leaders  have called for immediate action to implement all elements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial decisions adopted at the Bali Ministerial Conference on 7 December 2013.

The Business-20 (B20) trade task force, which includes 68 company executives from 25 countries, met on Monday in Istanbul to carry forward the B20 policy recommendations process initiated in Seoul in 2010, in preparation for the G20 Leaders Summit to be hosted by Turkey in November 2015.

“The world’s leading corporations are deeply invested in helping to shape a trade agenda that will deliver economic growth and millions of new jobs,” said Güler Guler Sabancı, Chairman of Turkey’s Sabanci Holdings, who co-chaired the task force meeting with International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)ICC Chairman Harold (Terry) McGraw, Chairman of McGraw Hill Financial. “Trade is key to meeting the G20’s growth targets over the next five years, and the G20 plays a critical role in driving the negotiations forward,” she said.

Encouraged by the commitments of G20 leaders’ – made at the 2013 Saint Petersburg Summit – to rally behind the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and further pledges made at the Brisbane Summit to implement all elements of the Bali package, issued in 2014 the B20 task force submitted a set of priorities to drive growth and jobs by resurrecting the international trade negotiations known as the Doha Development Agenda.

The world’s leading corporations are deeply invested in helping to shape a trade agenda that will deliver economic growth and millions of new jobs.

Gathering Monday ahead of a meeting with G20 finance ministers, the B20 trade task force, called on G20 leaders to rapidly implement and ratify the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, stop protectionism in its tracks, remove supply chain barriers and ensure that plurilateral trade agreements contribute to a stronger multilateral trading system. The task force also called for progressive leadership by the G20 to liberalize trade in services, encourage the growth of e-commerce and improve intellectual property protection and enforcement regimes as drivers of economic growth.

“G20 Leaders in Brisbane pledged to implement all elements of the Bali package and to swiftly define a WTO work programme on the remaining issues of the Doha Development Agenda,” said Mr McGraw, who also chairs the ICC World Trade Agenda initiative. “The time is now for government leaders to deliver progress on the trade agenda and business stands ready to ensure that these pledges are fulfilled,” he said.

B20 trade task force co-chairs supporting Ms Sabanci and Mr McGraw include, Frederico Curado, CEO of Embraer (Brazil), Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemicals (US); Frank Ning, CEO of China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) (China), Nils Andersen, CEO of Maersk (Denmark) Victor Chu, Chairman of First Eastern (Hong Kong) and Alexei Mordashov, CEO of Seversatal (Russia).

The 2015 G20 Leaders’ Summit will be held in Antalya on November 15-16.

Learn more about the ICC World Trade Agenda.