ICC hails TFA breakthrough as victory for the global economy
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has hailed today’s breakthrough on the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement as an important milestone for the global economy.
Today’s breakthrough on the TFA places multilateralism firmly back at the centre of trade policy-making. Following several months of intense campaigning to encourage leaders back to the negotiating table to complete the deal, ICC welcomed the timely progress in talks between the US and India which comes just days before the G20 Summit kicks off in Brisbane, Australia.
“With a Summit agenda focusing on boosting global growth and job creation, the G20 can take forward a robust global trade agenda,” ICC Secretary General John Danilovich said.
“Today’s breakthrough is a real victory for all of us – business governments and consumers – and we look forward to seeing rapid action to implement the deal on the ground. We also need to see negotiators get back to the table in Geneva to advance discussions on other aspects of the post-Bali trade agenda.
ICC has always been clear that the Trade Facilitation Agreement, along with other elements of the Bali package agreed last December, has a huge potential to boost growth and create up to 21 million new jobs, the majority of which would be in developing economies,” Mr Danilovich added.
In a meeting last month in New Delhi, Indian Secretary of Commerce Rajeev Kher told Mr Danilovich that the Indian government was aware of the critical importance of the multilateral trading framework and on-going negotiations on the agreement.
“The systemic importance of this agreement should not be underestimated,” Mr Danilovich said. “Together with the deal at the APEC summit to expand the WTO’s agreement on information technology, we can safely say this was the week when multilateralism was put back at the centre of trade policy-making.”
ICC believes strongly in the primacy of a strong, rules-based multilateral trading system embodied by the World Trade Organization. The world business organization remains dedicated to ensuring that global business plays an active and constructive role in working with WTO members to help strengthen WTO rules and to adapt them to the current needs of global trade.
