USCIB Updates Archives

USCIB Participates in UN Plastics Pollution Treaty Negotiations

Published on May 8, 2024

USCIB Policy Manager for Regulation and Trade Chris Olsen, USCIB Director for Environment and Sustainable Development Agnes Vinblad, and a delegation of USCIB members participated in the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) to develop an international legally binding instrument on Plastic Pollution Treaty in Ottawa, Canada on April 23-29. With more than 2,500 delegates from Member States and Observers on hand, a wide range of USCIB members attended the negotiations and the multiple days of pre-meetings. 

According to Olsen, progress was made to advance textual negotiations and agree on intersessional work, but differences remain between country negotiating positions, leaving the final scope and provisions uncertain. However, the progress made was critically important, with the only remaining negotiating round set to take place at INC-5 in Busan, South Korea, later this year. 

Business engagement in this process remains imperative. In addition to informing the negotiations and reflecting a wide range of economic realities, global businesses must also be ready to react to its eventual outcome. 

For more information, visit UN Environment Programme. 

USCIB Contributes Business Views on Climate & Biodiversity Finance

Published on May 7, 2024
Agnes Vinblad representing the Business and Industry Major Group (BIMG)

The Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development (EMRTD) convened for its ninth season at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The session on May 2 included three thematic discussions and a roundtable with key stakeholders on cross-cutting issues. 

USCIB Director for Environment and Sustainable Development Agnes Vinblad represented the Business and Industry Major Group (BIMG) to the UN in New York as a panelist for the discussion on “Development and Climate Financing: Innovative Tools and Nature Solutions to Help Realize the Right to Development.” 

Alongside Vinblad, speakers included Permanent Representative of Barbados François Jackman, IMF Special Representative to the UN Robert Powell, UN Resident Coordinator in Gabon Savina Ammassari, and chargée d’affairs in Gabon Annette Onanga. 

“As business, we look towards governments to create an incentivizing and enabling policy environment to spur private investment. Business needs certainty to operate; here, there is a strong need to focus on the critical role of concessional finance and derisking,” said Vinblad. 

“Innovative new green financing instruments and platforms, for example green bonds and high-integrity voluntary carbon markets, will all play a key role in scaling up private finance. However, it is critical to underscore that climate finance is a highly complex challenge,” continued Vinblad. 

The session discussed tools and experiences aimed at creating a favorable investment climate, de-risking investments, and conferring an economic value on natural resources and ecosystems with the use of carbon pricing and biodiversity credits. 

This discussion was especially timely as 2024 is a critical year for multilateral negotiations on climate and biodiversity finance. In November of this year, we will see the convening of Climate COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. This year’s Climate COP has already been dubbed the “Finance COP” as countries must come together to agree upon a new global climate finance target, the New Collective Quantifiable Goal (NCQG). 

Simultaneously, countries are hard at work on developing their next-round Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which must be presented by February 2025, to be ready for adoption at Climate COP30 in Brazil next year. Finance will be a core part of these next-round NDCs. 

We are also seeing the convening of UN Biodiversity COP16 in October this year, where countries must deliver their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). The Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets out a goal to raise 200 billion for nature conservation from public and private sources annually by 2030. To accomplish this ambitious goal finance must be central to countries NBSAPs. 

Details on the event can be found here. 

US State Department Launches International Cyberspace and Digital Policy Strategy

Published on May 7, 2024

On May 6, 2024, during the RSA Conference in San Francisco, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken released the United States’ International Cyberspace and Digital Policy Strategy: Towards an Innovative, Secure, and Rights-Respecting Digital Future.   

In conjunction with other federal agencies, the Department of State developed this strategy to guide international engagement on technology diplomacy and advance the National Security Strategy and the National Cybersecurity Strategy. 

During his speech, Secretary Blinken highlighted the following key points that are important to the US approach to digital solidarity: 

  1. The need to harness technology to benefit all humanity. 
  2. The importance of digital governance, and the critical role the private sector plays in this. 
  3. The importance of securing infrastructure. 
  4. The need to build resilient and trusted tech ecosystems. 
  5. The need to maintain a small yard and high fence approach to protecting certain technologies. 

These points align with many of the digital policy goals that USCIB supports. In the USCIB AI Priorities Paper, USCIB describes the need to take a human rights-based approach to AI systems and the need for human-centric and accountable approaches to AI governance. More broadly, USCIB and its members have worked to promote multistakeholder approaches to digital governance and to foster an open, secure and resilient digital ecosystem. 

USCIB Joins BIAC at OECD Ministerial Council Meeting 2024

Published on May 6, 2024

Whitney Baird with the BIAC delegation. USCIB’s affiliation with BIAC gives us international reach and influence.

USCIB’s President and CEO Whitney Baird attended the OECD MCM 2024 from May 2-3 as part of the Business at OECD (BIAC) delegation. The theme of this year’s MCM was “Co-Creating the Flow of Change: Leading Global Discussions with Objective and Reliable Approaches towards Sustainable and Inclusive Growth.” 

BIAC called upon the Ministers to strengthen the competitiveness of OECD economies, drawing upon the OECD’s unique strength: its structured and institutional relationship with the private sector. As the private sector faces an overcast outlook, reinforcing the competitiveness of our market-based economies is the only way to deliver high, long-term, and truly sustainable growth. 

Understandably, AI was also a hot topic and a key takeaway from the event was the need for convergence internationally on AI governance and standards. 

MCM 2024 provided an opportunity to highlight results from BIAC’s Annual Economic Survey, conducted among the leading national business and employer organizations in OECD member countries. This year’s survey showed a regionally diverging business climate for 2024 and underlined continuing challenges for business, including geopolitical uncertainties, risks of volatilities in several markets and specific concerns about the lack of effective policies to enhance competitiveness. 

USCIB’s Whitney Baird with Rick Johnston, Chairman, Business at OECD (BIAC)

USCIB will continue to play an important role representing the voice of the private sector in policy discussions. Shared challenges are best tackled together. A renewed commitment to strong and effective multilateralism, with the OECD at the center of global cooperation, will help promote global efforts to create policies that enable a better future for all.

Check out BIAC’s Economic Survey and MCM statement for more information.  

 

Argentina and Indonesia Are the Latest Countries to Begin OECD Accession Negotiations

Published on May 1, 2024

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is now formally undertaking accession negotiations with Argentina and Indonesia. 

While Argentina was invited to accede to the OECD in 2022, political turmoil delayed progress until a new Argentine Administration led by President Javier Milei recommitted to the process this year. The OECD adopted Argentina’s accession roadmap in March and now awaits Argentina’s initial memorandum (IM) outlining how it complies with OECD legal instruments. 

The OECD also adopted Indonesia’s roadmap for accession in March. Because of the many divergences with OECD practices and principles, Indonesia will likely need more time and is not expected to have its IM ready this year, according to USCIB Senior VP for Trade, Investment and Digital Policy Alice Slayton Clark. Once the IM is received, the OECD will undertake its market openness report and invite Member views on Indonesia’s candidacy.  

“As the US affiliate of Business at OECD (BIAC), USCIB has a unique opportunity to highlight and address the market access concerns of US business as part of the accession process,” said Clark.  

Argentina and Indonesia join the five current OECD candidates – Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia Peru, Romania.  

For updated information on the OECD Accession process and recent developments about the candidates, please visit our website. 

USCIB Gives Intervention at UN Global Digital Compact on a “Zero Draft” for Shared Goals and Principles 

Published on April 29, 2024

Following the launch of the Global Digital Compact (GDC) by the United Nations’ Secretary General, UN member states and stakeholders are developing a “Zero Draft” to outline shared goals and principles for an open, free, and secure digital future for all. USCIB Vice President for Digital Policy Cheryl Miller gave an intervention at the most recent GDC consultation to highlight US business concerns with the Zero Draft.  

Miller’s intervention warned against duplication of efforts by the GDC that are already ongoing at other multilateral organizations on both internet governance and artificial intelligence (AI). Namely, Miller emphasized that existing UN forums, such as the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), could implement and monitor GDC objectives, rather than creating new structures and processes.  

“Using existing forums will avoid duplication of efforts and resources for US companies and all stakeholders involved,” said Miller. 

Miller also raised the issue of duplication when it comes to international governance of AI. Discussions around AI governance is already ongoing at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), as well as at regional and national levels.  

“The GDC could helpfully complement ongoing dialogues at the OECD, ITU, and ECOSOC, rather than convening its own annual global dialogue,” added Miller. 

Miller was one of several representatives across the multistakeholder community to give an intervention to Ambassador Chola Milambo, the Permanent Representative of Zambia to the UN, who is co-facilitating the GDC, along with Ambassador Anna-Karin Eneström, the Permanent Representative of Sweden to the UN. 

USCIB will continue to work with the multistakeholder community to ensure that the final Zero Draft supports an open, free and secure digital future for all. 

 

ICC Releases Study on the Importance of WTO in Fostering Economic Growth and Development

Published on April 29, 2024

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has commissioned and released an independent study by Oxford Economics that demonstrates the vital importance of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in fostering global economic growth and development.

The study, titled ‘The Impact on Developing Economies of WTO Dissolution,’ highlights the dire consequences of abandoning the WTO, particularly in developing countries. Dissolution of the WTO would result in a 33 percent drop in developing economies’ merchandise trade, a permanent GDP loss to developing countries exceeding five percent, and acute export losses particularly affecting low-income and middle-income countries. 

USCIB Leads Discussion on Responsible Business Conduct at International Human Rights Conference

Published on April 24, 2024
Ewa Staworzynska at International Human Rights Conference

140 companies gathered this week for the annual International Human Rights Conference hosted by the International Organization of Employers (IOE), DHL Group, and the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA) in Bonn, Germany. USCIB Director for Corporate Responsibility Ewa Staworzynska led the discussion on April 24 in her capacity as chair of the IOE Policy Working Group on Business and Human Rights (BHR) and Responsible Business Conduct (RBC).

Staworzynska underscored that the regulations risk causing unintended consequences, such as divestment from developing countries, and may cause potential contradiction with the widely supported UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

“It is clear that companies are facing increased pressure on RBC and it is important that the business community, together with policymakers, discuss the practical implications of such regulation,” said Staworzynska.

L-R: Ewa Staworzynska (USCIB), Renate Hornung-Draus (BDA), and Amb. Abiodun Richards Adejola (Nigeria)

USCIB led the discussion on the extraterritorial impact of recent and forthcoming EU regulations pertaining to RBC. Perspectives were shared from both EU and non-EU countries. Panelists included the Minister of Employment and Social Protection of Côté D’Ivoire and Vice Chair of the Alliance 8.7 Adama Kamara, the UN Permanent Representative of Nigeria and Chair of the ILO Governing Body Ambassador Abiodun Richards Adejola, Managing Director at BDA and Employer Vice Chair at the International Labor Organization (ILO) Renate Hornung-Draus, Vice President and Member of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala, and Member of the European Parliament Axel Voss.

Saudia Arabia and Philippines to Accept ATA Carnets (“Passport for Goods”) This Summer

Published on April 24, 2024

New York, NY, April 24, 2024—The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), the national guaranteeing and issuing association for the ATA Carnet in the United States, has announced that both the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia and the Republic of the Philippines have joined the ATA Carnet system. These countries join a growing list of over 80 countries and customs territories that process the ATA Carnet.

ATA Carnets are critical tools of trade facilitation and export promotion. The ATA Carnet is an international customs document that allows duty- and tax-free temporary admission of goods for up to one year.

ATA Carnet operations in Saudia Arabia will begin on June 1, 2024 and include Carnets for use at exhibitions, fairs, meetings, and similar events.

The Philippines will begin accepting Carnets on July 15, 2024. The scope of Carnet acceptance will include exhibitions, fairs, meetings, professional equipment, and commercial samples.

“USCIB is delighted that Saudia Arabia and the Philippines will be joining the ATA Carnet System this summer,” said USCIB Chief Operating Officer Declan Daly. “The Middle East and Southeast Asia are significant markets for USCIB members and we look forward to working with our counterparts—the Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry—to expand trade in these regions.”

The global ATA Carnet system is overseen and managed by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce World Chambers Federation (ICC-WCF). USCIB administers the ATA System in the United States.

About USCIB

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S. based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of the economy, with operations in every region of the world, generating $5 trillion in annual revenues and employing over 11 million workers worldwide. As the U.S. affiliate to several leading international business organizations, including the ICC, IOE, and Business at OECD, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide and works to facilitate international trade and development.

USCIB is also the National Guaranteeing and Issuing Association for ATA Carnets in the United States, having been appointed as such by the Department of Treasury, now U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in 1969. More at  www.uscib.org.

USCIB Celebrates Earth Day, Underscores US Business Role in Addressing Global Environmental Challenges 

Published on April 22, 2024

New York, NY, April 22, 2024—The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) joins the international community in celebrating Earth Day. USCIB proudly champions environmental protection and responsible business conduct across our members’ operations around the globe. Our member companies are global leaders in the development of advanced technologies and innovation, bringing world-leading technical expertise and resources to address global environmental challenges.  

USCIB also remains a steadfast champion of inclusive multilateralism, which includes the voice of US business within a robust stakeholder engagement process. 

We firmly believe that the global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution can only be overcome through fully inclusive multilateral collaboration and with US private sector know-how and implementation. 

As an official observer to the UN Environment Program (UNEP), the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD), and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), USCIB is uniquely positioned to serve as the voice of US business leadership in upcoming negotiations at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Baku and the Convention on Biological Diversity. 

About USCIB: USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S. based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of the economy, with operations in every region of the world, generating $5 trillion in annual revenues and employing over 11 million workers worldwide. As the U.S. affiliate to several leading international business organizations, including the ICC, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide and works to facilitate international trade and development. More at  www.uscib.org.