Business Bolstered by G20 Progress in Los Cabos

Published on June 28, 2012

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is encouraged that business recommendations for boosting the global economy, including those aimed at unblocking trade negotiations, were taken into account by G20 leaders at their recent Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. ICC executives, who met in Paris recently, agreed that while much progress still needs to be made, the measures announced by G20 leaders represent a positive step towards creating favorable conditions for improving economic growth and creating jobs. The G20 final communiqué, issued on June 19 at the close of the Summit, took into account recommendations that had been delivered to the G20 by several business organizations, including ICC, on behalf of global business.

“ICC welcomes that G20 leaders have reasserted their shared belief in multilateralism and picked up on our trade and investment recommendations,” ICC Chairman Gerard Worms said. “Their agreement to negotiate on this issue is an indicator of progress and presents an opportunity to reinvigorate the global economy.”

“Despite the challenges we all face domestically, we have agreed that multilateralism is of even greater importance in the current climate, and remains our best asset to resolve the global economy’s difficulties,” the G20 leaders stated in the final communiqué, which also expresses appreciation for the contributions of the G20 Business Summit process.

CEOs from the ICC G20 Advisory Group and partners, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Mexican business associations COPARMEX and COMCE, delivered business views on a host of topics including trade and investment to Mexican President Felipe Calderon on April 19 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in preparation for the G20 Summit. Among these recommendations was a call for increased tools for global governance, namely for reinforcement of the role and powers of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). G20 leaders subsequently reaffirmed in Los Cabos their commitment to fully implement the 2010 Quota and Governance Reform by the time of the IMF/World Bank annual meetings, set to take place October 12-14, 2012.

Big Turnout for APEC Women in the Economy Forum

Published on June 28, 2012

On June 20 the State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, in partnership with USCIB and the National Center for APEC, held the first APEC Women in the Economy Forum: Private Sector Working Group. The half-day workshop was attended by over 50 members of the private and public sectors, including many USCIB members who also participated on panel discussions. The workshop served to bring actionable recommendations and input from U.S. stakeholders to the APEC Women in the Economy Forum taking place in St. Petersburg June 28-30. The June 20 meeting was opened by U.S. APEC Senior Official Ambassador Hans Klemm and Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer.

The APEC forum’s work focuses on four main pillars: Access to Capital, Access to Markets, Skills and Capacity Building and Women’s Leadership. The workshop held panel discussions around each pillar and explored how the four pillars factor into the six topics that Russia is focusing on during their host year, which are: Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Work-Life Balance (or Integration), Corporate Management, IT and Investments in Human Capital. Representatives from USCIB member companies including Deloitte, Eastman Chemical, Intel and Qualcomm were asked to give their expertise in these areas and talk about best practices from their companies.

USCIB Executive Vice President Ronnie Goldberg led discussion on Access to Markets and brought attention to the OECD’s Gender Initiative and BIAC’s recently published report, “Putting ALL Our Minds to Work: Harnessing the Gender Dividend,” which was delivered to the OECD in May. The report advocates the business case for women’s economic empowerment and puts forth policy recommendations to further efforts to maximize the benefits of gender diversity. The BIAC report echoes what APEC is advocating through its Policy Partnership on Women in the Economy.

Attendees brought up many ideas/recommendations and areas where more work needed to be done including, but not limited to:

Skills and capacity building—need for more science and technology education
Developed vs. developing country divide—access to business and finance training
Mentoring and sponsorship
Professional development plans in SMEs
Sharing information to grow stronger and not to duplicate efforts.

The workshop set a strong precedent for future meetings of the APEC Women in the Economy Forum which is part of APEC’s Policy Partnership on Women in the Economy. We hope that as this work stream evolves and gains momentum going into Indonesia’s host year of 2013, that we will see more private sector engagement across the board. USCIB plans to continue to work with our partners to provide opportunities to engage to our members. We will share an official summary of the workshop with members when available in the coming weeks.

After the workshop, attendees joined USCIB and NCAPEC at a reception where USCIB’s Goldberg provided a welcome address and introduced Lorraine Hariton, the State Department’s special representative for commercial and business affairs. Hariton congratulated the group on a positive and productive session and spoke to the importance of working together to get the message out and share best practices and recommendations to advance women’s role and success in the global economy.

USCIB will work with NCAPEC to hold a de-brief with the State Department early next month to update members on the St. Petersburg meetings and discuss next steps leading to Indonesia as well as further plans for the working group.

Click here to view photos from the reception.

Staff contact: Justine Badimon

Self-Regulation Experts Gather at ICC Seminar on Consumer Savvy Marketing

Published on June 28, 2012

An engaging roster of top consumer protection and advertising self-regulation experts from the United States and around the world made the line-up of speakers at an ICC seminar on Consumer Savvy Marketing held in New York City on June 7. This seminar, hosted by USCIB and the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising, provided the opportunity for companies and legal experts to stay up to date with the dramatically changing landscape of marketing campaigns and to better understand how rules apply to technological and practice developments.

Participants enjoyed a dynamic and informative keynote presentation on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) activities and new projects by Lesley Fair, Senior Attorney of FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau. Ms. Fair shared examples of recent U.S. advertising cases to illustrate how the FTC enforcement serves as a unique backstop to industry self-regulation efforts discussed later in the event. She discussed the FTC’s recently released privacy report and advised that companies with the most success in this area pursue a privacy-by-design approach to their business activities. Ms. Fair offered examples of cases in new media, explained the testimonials and endorsement guides in practice and gave an update on the review of the FTC green guides.

When asked how the FTC’s handles compliance when a company has campaigns overseas or with international cases, she noted that the FTC has worked with other consumer protection bodies in a cooperative fashion. She was also called on to share U.S. experiences with developing economies and notes that the U.S. boasts over a 90% compliance rate for self-regulation.

The seminar also included three discussion panels, addressing: Social Media Pitfalls and Best Practices, Privacy, Marketing and Self-Regulation and Mobile Marketing and Applications: Developments to Watch.

“The seminar provided us with an important opportunity to bring together a dream team from the community of organizations and experts and to showcase the valuable work being done to make self-regulation work,” said ICC Marketing Commission Chair and Microsoft Corporation Associate General Counsel Brent Sanders. “It is definitely an exercise the commission would like to repeat and expand upon next year and beyond.”

ICC has been a major rule-setter in international advertising self-regulation since 1937, when the ICC Commission on Marketing and Advertising issued the first ICC Code on Advertising Practice – one of the most successful examples of business self-regulation ever developed. The revised Consolidated ICC Code of Advertising and Marketing Communication Practice was launched in 2011 along with CodesCentre.com, a one-stop resource for industry, regulators and academics on self-regulation and advertising.

Click here to read more on ICC’s website, including information on speakers and moderators.

Download a copy of the Consolidated ICC Code

CodesCentre.com

Staff Contact: Jonathan Huneke

More on USCIB’s Marketing and Advertising Committee

“G20 Governments Have Heard the Voice of Business,” Says USCIB President

Published on June 22, 2012

USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw (center), who also serves as vice chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, speaks at the B20 Summit. ICC Chairman Gerard Worms is at left, and ICC Honorary Chairman Victor Fung at right.

Earlier this week, USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson attended the B20 business meetings preceding the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, joining USCIB Chairman Harold (Terry) McGraw III and a host of global business leaders for intensive discussion and dialogue with G20 governments.

In a message to members reflecting on the summit’s outcome, Mr. Robinson wrote: “There is one thing I am certain of: G20 governments have heard the voice of business on a number of critical trade, investment and financial issues. To what extent the G20 truly listened to and learned from business will only be revealed through government actions going forward.”

The B20 Summit has become an annual accompaniment to the G20 Summit, attended by numerous business leaders and incorporating the involvement of each leg of USCIB’s global network – the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD.

Robinson said this year’s B20 meeting was a well-organized event that incorporated dialogue and exchange between business and government leaders, including both heads of state and heads of intergovernmental organizations, representing an opportunity for business to communicate its views. Position papers were developed through a consultative process established by Alejandro Ramirez, CEO of the Mexican company Cinepolis, who Robinson said “did a great job” as the B20 coordinator appointed by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Industry task forces organized by ICC and the World Economic Forum examined a wide range of issues in the lead-up to Los Cabos, with ICC leading the task force on trade and investment, which was co-chaired by ICC Honorary Chairman Victor Fung. IOE Executive Vice President Daniel Funes de Rioja participated in the employment task force, which was co-chaired by USCIB Trustee Jeffrey Joerres, chairman and CEO of Manpower Inc. IOE and BIAC have organized business input to the G8/G20 labor ministerials.

In addition to Calderon, the B20 gathering was addressed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Benin President Yayi Boni. The heads of major intergovernmental bodies also participated, including World Bank President Robert Zoellick, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria and WTO Director General Pascal Lamy.

According to Robinson, government leaders emphasized a common refrain:

a commitment to open markets and roll back protectionism
the importance of encouraging economic growth and job creation
a challenge to business to make its voice heard strongly and to go beyond basic recommendations
encouragement of the business community to measure results and actions by governments.

Robinson said business would indeed strive to hold the G20 accountable. “Certainly, the final communiqué endorsed a number of basic business messages,” he said. “I am optimistic and hopeful that the considerable energy that went into the organization of the B20 in Los Cabos will pay off in the long run, and that business will have a continued leadership role in the years ahead.”

Staff contacts: Rob Mulligan and Ronnie Goldberg

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

More on USCIB’s Labor and Employment Committee

ICC Pledges to Take Outcome of Rio+20 Forward

Published on June 20, 2012

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) welcomed the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, as a stepping stone to achieve sustainable development while helping to eradicate poverty.

ICC also applauded the confirmation of the decisive role of multilateral approaches across all policy areas by governments and intergovernmental bodies to achieve a green economy. Only by striving towards a holistic and global policy framework can we enable governments, business, and all parts of civil society to scale-up and deliver solutions for sustainability.

Rio+20 has recognized that business plays a vital role in implementing sustainable development and the outcome document of the conference paves the way for increased engagement by all stakeholders, including the private sector, toward achieving green and more inclusive economies. ICC, however, also recognized the many interlinked sustainability and policy challenges remaining to scale-up and accelerate implementation for sustained, inclusive and equitable global growth.

“Rio+20 set out to provide a vision for implementing sustainable development and the outcome document helps chart a path,” said Jean-Guy Carrier, ICC Secretary General. “All of us – business, governments, civil society – now have a great challenge but also a historic opportunity and responsibility to take that vision forward by scaling up efforts to adapt to the 21st century, mainstreaming sustainability into all areas of our lives.”

Click here to read more on ICC’s website.

Staff Contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

Business Priorities Delivered to G20, Progress Rated as “Incomplete”

Published on June 18, 2012

USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw speaking at a recent G20 consultation in Washington, D.C.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), part of USCIB’s global network, presented policy priorities on behalf of global business on the eve of this year’s Summit of G20 leaders in Los Cabos, Mexico.

“The G20’s expanding agenda increasingly bears upon core business goals for trade, economic growth and job creation,” said ICC Chairman Gerard Worms, who headed a delegation of ICC leaders at the G20 Business Summit. “It’s our responsibility to ensure that the G20 takes into account global business priorities in their deliberations. As the everyday practitioners of the global economy, we need to make sure that the voice of world business is heard.”

Worms was joined in Los Cabos by a CEO delegation that included USCIB Chairman (and ICC Vice Chairman) Harold McGraw III, chairman and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies; ICC Honorary Chairman Victor Fung, chairman of the Li & Fung Group Chairman Victor K Fung; and ICC G20 Advisory Group Chairman Marcus Wallenberg, chairman of SEB.

ICC has delivered business priorities to G7, G8 and now G20 Summits since 1990, and beginning with the Seoul Summit has partnered with host-country organizations to produce business policy recommendations for consideration by the G20. Currently, this work is conducted collaboratively between ICC, the World Economic Forum and principal host-nation business associations so as to canvas broad business input into the policy development process.

USCIB President Peter M. Robinson is also taking part in the business meetings surrounding the G20 Summit.

“Although the majority of issues tackled by the G20 are directly related to global business priorities, until the creation of G20 business summits, the G20 process had no formal means to solicit input from business leaders on its agenda and work,” said ICC Secretary General Jean-Guy Carrier. “The G20 Business Summit is therefore a welcome opportunity and we are grateful to Mexican President Calderon for reaching out to business.”

Among ICC’s top policy priorities are trade and investment. ICC contends that especially at a time when governments are struggling with excessive debt, multilateral trade liberalization would create jobs and drive economic growth.

“Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy and the world needs more of it at this critical moment, not less,” said Fung. “We are calling on G20 leaders to lead by example in resisting protectionism and rejecting measures that restrict trade and investment. The G20 should provide strong support for multilateral trade liberalization and foster more rapid progress on the WTO negotiating agenda. We’d like to see the G20 make trade and investment a permanent item on its agenda.”

While a successful conclusion of the Doha Round in its current form doesn’t seem likely, there are alternative approaches to making progress on the multilateral trade agenda that can spur growth, foster economic opportunities, and create much-needed jobs.

“The G20 should enhance capital markets so the world has the liquidity it needs to meet massive demands in infrastructure and corporate debt,” said McGraw, who also emphasized that the G20 should lead in protecting intellectual property rights. “The current trend of ‘free content’ through piracy is nothing more than the digital age’s version of old-fashioned theft,” he said.

Wallenberg said: “We call on G20 leaders to be attentive to business’s messages and to learn from companies’ experience of the practical consequences of regulation and policy decisions on the economy and on jobs.”

“Business is especially concerned with the trend toward ‘over-regulation,’” Wallenberg said. “The financing of the economy is being restricted by higher bank funding costs, higher lending spreads and lower credit supply. All this is happening at a time when the world economy is most in need of productive investment,” he added.

ICC has called on the G20 to lead efforts to create a predictable and stable climate for global cross-border investment.

We would wish that the G20 would show more concern to the promotion and protection of foreign-direct investment,” said Wallenberg. “We’d like to see the G20 create a special working group on investment to advance this agenda which would report back to the next G20 Summit in Russia in 2013.”

ICC is committed to establishing an ongoing policy dialogue between the G20 and global business. To do so, ICC has launched the ICC G20 Business Scorecard, a policy tool designed to gauge the G20’s response to business recommendations.

ICC upholds that the G20 will more effectively set priorities, honor commitments, measure its own progress over time, and identify issues that deserve greater attention, if it is better informed on how its actions are interpreted by the business community. In parallel, global business should work more closely with the G20 to promote economic growth and job creation.

“The purpose of the ICC G20 Scorecard is to generate a balanced and reliable measurement of the G20’s performance in response to business recommendations that have been put forward to G20 leaders,” said Carrier.

The ICC G20 Scorecard was unveiled by USCIB Chairman McGraw at a June 5 conference in Washington, D.C. with U.S. G20 Sherpa Michael Froman. It marked G20 performance as “incomplete” across the four policy areas evaluated: trade and investment, green growth, transparency and anti-corruption, and financing for growth and development.

On trade and investment the Scorecard gives the G20 a score of “incomplete,” based primarily on its failure to help advance multilateral trade negotiations. “The Scorecard is a useful tool for business to monitor the G20’s progress on the international trade and investment policy agenda,” said Carrier. “If G20 leaders were to break the stalemate in WTO negotiations or to make progress towards a multilateral framework for investment, these advances would be reflected in a significantly higher score.”

The G20 Business Summit demonstrates just how useful increased collaboration between business and government can be.

“The commitment and recommendations of the CEOs gathered in Los Cabos compel a mechanism to pursue the dialogue on an ongoing basis,” Worms said. “ICC hopes that the G20 will recognize the value of creating a permanent role for world business at future G20 summits and in the policymaking process between summits.”

Staff contact: Rob Mulligan

More on ICC’s G20 Advisory Group

Burmese Nobel Laureate Meets with Global Employers

Published on June 15, 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi address the International Organization of Employers, flanked by IOE Secretary General Brent Wilton (Left) and IOE Executive Vice President Daniel Funes de Rioja.

In a special session of the International Labor Organization’s annual conference in Geneva yesterday, the Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was warmly welcomed on behalf of the International Organization of Employers (IOE) by IOE Executive Vice President Daniel Funes de Rioja of Argentina. USCIB is the IOE’s American affiliate and serves as the voice of American business in the ILO.

Before inviting Suu Kyi to take the floor, Funes de Rioja reaffirmed the employers’ commitment to the tripartite values of the International Labor Organization including the fundamental principles and rights at work laid out in the 1998 ILO Declaration.

Suu Kyi noted that good employer-worker relations would be essential in bringing harmonious prosperity to Burma, and that business should, in considering investing in the country, consider such an endeavor to be a cooperative effort between employers, workers and government. “Investment in Burma should be democracy-friendly and human rights-friendly,” she said. “this would help us to build Burma.”

In response, Funes de Rioja gave the assurance of the employers that they would work to build solid relationships with workers in Burma, with the respect of fundamental principles and rights at work forming the essence of such a relationship.

Words of support were offered to Ms. Suu Kyi from the IOE’s regional vice president for Asia, Kamran Rahman, as well as from employers’ spokespersons in Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

As the employer spokesperson on the case involving Myanmar in the ILO over many years, Ed Potter, director of global workplace rights with The Coca-Cola Company and chair of USCIB’s Labor and Employment Policy Committee, welcomed Suu Kyi’s emphasis on democracy and human rights-led growth. This, he said, provided a solid base for companies to enter Burma and paved the way for investment. He particularly thanked Suu Kyi for “defining how businesses enter your country …. very much in a human rights, workplace rights- focused environment.”

Staff contact: Ariel Meyerstein

More on USCIB’s Labor and Employment Policy Committee

ICC to Administer New Internet Domain Name Disputes

Published on June 13, 2012

The current number of domain name endings is set to dramatically increase

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is among four dispute resolution providers invited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to administer disputes arising from applications made for new Internet generic Top-Level Domain Names (“gTLD”), a shift that will see a dramatic increase in the existing number of domain name endings currently available.

The dispute resolution procedure is part of a comprehensive program designed to protect the rights and interests of individuals or entities who oppose the registration of any domain name “strings” submitted for registration, as alternatives to the commonly known .com and .org extensions become possible.

ICANN today kicked off a seven-month objection period and made publicly available a list of all 1,930 gTLD ‘strings,’ for which complete applications were filed.

Under the program, ICC has accepted to process cases under the following two categories of objection.

“Limited public interest objections” – whereby proposed names are considered to be contrary to generally accepted legal norms relating to morality and public order, recognized under principles of international law.
“Community objections”, a substantial opposition to the gTLD application from a significant portion of the community to which the string may be explicitly or implicitly targeted.

The ICC International Centre for Expertise (the Centre) will administer cases under its Rules for Expertise which have been updated to include an appendix to govern the financial aspect of the proceedings. The Centre has also published a Practice Note to supplement the Rules.

Click here to read more on ICC’s website.

Detailed information on the new service including a full listing of the final determinations of experts can be found on the ICC website at: http://www.iccwbo.org/court/expertise/id48204/index.html

More on ICC Dispute Resolution

More on USCIB’s Information, Communications and Technology Committee

Merchandise Passports Showcased at Abu Dhabi Energy Summit

Published on February 7, 2012

USCIB and the global ATA Carnet system were represented by Amanda Barlow, USCIB’s manager of Carnet development, and representatives from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES), which took place in Abu Dhabi January 16-19.Reed Exhibitions, owner of WFES and partner of USCIB for many years, invited USCIB and WATAC to exhibit in the USA pavilion.

At the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi (L-R): USCIB’s Amanda Barlow (USCIB), U.S. Ambassador to the UAE Michael Corbin, and Mahdi Al Mazim and Dawood A. Mohamed of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.

Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai have recently joined the global Carnet network, which is overseen by the International Chamber of Commerce. Carnets are internationally recognized customs documents that permit temporary duty-free, tax-free shipment of goods for trade shows, demonstration samples and professional equipment. USCIB is the guarantor of ATA Carnets in the United States and issues them in cooperation with a national network of service providers.

The summit, which attracted over 25,000 participants and 600 exhibitors from around the world, is the world’s foremost annual meeting committed to advancing future energy, energy efficiency and clean technologies. Major figures addressing the event included UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, president of the UN General Assembly.Ms. Barlow was joined at the summit by Mahdi Al Mazim, director of membership and documentation at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, and Dawood A. Mohammed, the chamber’s senior executive for membership and documentation. Together they represented ATA Carnet issuing and guarantee associations in the 71 countries that belong to the system.

While in the United Arab Emirates, Ms. Barlow also paid a visit to the Dubai Chamber, meeting with local business leaders and the media. The Dubai Chamber and USCIB discussed ways of mutual cooperation in the promotion of the ATA Carnet system. For more on this meeting, click here.

Staff contact: Cynthia Duncan

World Future Energy Summit website

More on USCIB’s ATA Carnet Export Service

World Economic Climate Worsens According to ICC-Ifo Survey

Published on August 11, 2011

According to the latest quarterly World Economic Survey (WES), published today, from USCIB’s affiliate the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research, the global economic upswing is faltering after the first two improved quarters of 2011.

The World Economic Climate indicator fell by 10 points, from 107.7 in the second quarter of 2011 to 97.7 in the third. It fell based on the assessment of 1,080 economic experts, in 117 countries, who responded to the WES survey questions on both the current economic climate, as well as on the next six-month outlook.

The worsening economic climate is largely the result of a decline in indicator markers in Asia, North America, and Western Europe. The factors attributed to decline, however, are quite different in each of these regions.

In Asia, decline in the economic climate has been attributed to efforts by most Asian countries to moderate their pace of economic growth in order to reduce inflation pressure and maintain sustainable growth. Experts in China, India and Indonesia, in particular, have judged their economic climates more reservedly than others. The economic climate indicator for Asia is still slightly above its long-term average, falling overall by just over seven points from 101.8 in the second quarter of this year to 94.7 in the third.

The biggest drop occurred in North America, from 98.7 to 81.2, in large part due to the United States.

The abrupt drop in economic climate in Western Europe, after two years of constant improvement, is spread unevenly throughout the region, which fell overall from 115.1 to 105.2 points. The climate dimmed in part because previously strong upswings in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland lost some momentum, and in part because of problems in Italy and Portugal, the report indicates. The climate in the United Kingdom also worsened, while the economic climate in France improved.

Latin America was the only region whose economic climate remained unchanged, and Oceania was the sole region to enjoy a rise in expectations.

Inflation expectations have risen slightly worldwide, compared to the previous two quarters. WES experts now forecast an annual inflation rate of 4.0% for 2011, compared to 3.8% in its Q2 survey in April and 3.4% at the beginning of the year.

While the yen and euro are considered somewhat overvalued, the report’s experts thought the British pound and the US dollar were appropriately valued. They also foresee a further worldwide average decline in the value of the US dollar over the next six months, led by an expected weakening of the US dollar in some Asian countries, particularly China, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as in Canada and Russia.