Global governance
ICC Chairman meets EC President and Trade Commissioner
The Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, Yong Sung Park, met today with the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and the EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, to discuss pressing economic and trade issues and their impact on world business.
Mr Park was accompanied by other senior leaders of ICC and world business including: Marcus Wallenberg, Vice-Chairman, ICC and President and Chief Executive Officer, Investor AB; Maria Livanos Cattaui, ICC Secretary General; Lord Holme of Cheltenham, Senior Advisor to Standard Chartered Bank and Chairman, GlobeScan Incorporated; Suresh Kotak, President, ICC India and Chairman, Kotak and Co. Pvt. Ltd; Erik Belfrage, Senior Vice President, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken; and Bill Sweeney, Vice President of Government Affairs, Electronic Data Systems Corporation (EDS).
The ICC delegation emphasized the successful completion of the World Trade Organization’s Doha round of trade negotiations as an absolute priority of world business.
The parties also agreed that governments and business must work together to deal with the growing menace of piracy and counterfeit goods.
ICC’s Chairman stressed: “ICC is a global business organization that maintains that world business relies primarily on the multilateral approach to trade liberalization as the most efficient way for developed and developing countries to benefit.”
ICC’s Vice-Chairman remarked on “the very disturbing extent to which counterfeiting and piracy had grown and the need to educate consumers that measures are required to protect the public’s health and safety. The strong protection of intellectual property rights is vital to this effort.” He added that innovation by small and medium enterprises around the world is being stifled by what has become a pandemic.
