Trade & investment
ICC participates in Latin American G20 trade and investment, WTA events
In light of its leadership role with the Mexico 2012 B20 task force on trade and investment, ICC was invited to give one of the inaugural addresses at the first G20 Trade and Investment Promotion Summit, 4-6 November in Mexico City.
ICC presented the recommendations of the task force on trade and investment, which were the basis for the organization of this summit.
The summit was organized by ProMexico – the Mexican trade and investment promotion agency – in collaboration with ICC, the International Trade Centre, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization, and the Mexico 2012 B20 organizing committee.
The event brought together 22 high-level representatives from G20 trade and investment promotion agencies, together with senior representatives from the above-mentioned international organizations.
The summit combined plenary sessions and roundtable discussions organized around three main topics: building synergies between trade and investment, exploring company internationalization, and peer-learning in trade and investment promotion. The cross-cutting theme of the event was the evolution of international trade and investment into global value chains and the associated impact on trade and investment promotion agencies and business.
Main outcomes of the summit included the decision to make this a recurring annual event within G20’s ambit or beyond, creation of an online platform for information-sharing among agencies, and strategic conclusions endorsed by all agencies present. Alejandro Ramirez, chair of the Mexico 2012 B20 organizing committee, gave the concluding address. He told the story of his company, Cinepolis, and its transformation from a domestic Mexican cinema chain into the world’s fourth largest chain, present in 11 G20 countries, illustrating the benefits of open trade and investment.
The following day, ICC Mexico organized a consultation to discuss the initial recommendations of the ICC World Trade Agenda (WTA) initiative designed to inject global business leadership into the multilateral trade negotiation process. The meeting brought together around 30 senior Mexican business representatives, including Luis de la Calle Pardo – Vice-Chair of the ICC Commission on Trade and Investment Policy – who contextualized the WTA initial recommendations with an analysis of Mexican trade priorities at unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral levels, with particular focus on economic relations between Mexico and Brazil.
The presentation of the initial WTA recommendations was positively received by the audience of business experts and led to lively questions-and-answers session on how these tie into other Mexican trade priorities, and the importance of trade and investment for Mexico’s and Latin America’s economies.
For more information visit the ICC Business World Trade Agenda.
