G20
G20 leaders must seize the opportunity for WTO reform, says ICC Secretary General
In a letter published in the Financial Times, ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO has called on the leaders of G20 countries to chart a new roadmap for reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO) that supports sustainable and inclusive growth.
.@ICCSecGen’s letter to the @FT calls on #G20 leaders to participate in @WTO reform to show that #TradeMatters for sustainable and inclusive growth. Share on X
“Communities connected by commerce have a common interest in maintaining peace. The World Trade Organization has proved itself a linchpin of what is—by any objective measure—a more prosperous world order. And with the right reforms it can do more to help families and workers the world over,” wrote Mr Denton in a letter published today in the Financial Times.
Mr Denton’s letter comes one week after his presence at the WTO Trade Dialogues alongside ICC Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal and incoming ICC Chairman Paul Polman, where business delegates discussed a range of ideas to reform and enhance the multilateral trade system.
Noting that multilateral rules-based trade has “fuelled seven decades of unprecedented job creation and poverty alleviation”, Mr Denton called on the leaders of G20 nations to seize French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent call to develop a new blueprint for WTO reform in time for the group’s meeting in Argentina at the end of the year.
“[President Macron’s] call for the world’s leading economies to develop a new road map for WTO reform […] provides a genuine way forward to forge a new model of international trade co-operation that would support sustainable and inclusive growth,” Mr Denton wrote.
WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo also welcomed Mr Macron’s call to strengthen the international trading system in a bilateral meeting last month.
