Op-Eds and Speeches Archives

USCIB Statement on the U.S. Election Results

Published on November 9, 2016

Trump announces security policy in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaNew York, N.Y., November 9, 2016 – Terry McGraw, chairman of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB) and Peter Robinson, USCIB’s president and CEO, released the following statement on the results of the U.S. election:

“We congratulate Donald J. Trump on his election as our next President. It has been an intensely hard-fought campaign, and we look forward to Americans coming together behind shared values and a common purpose. We also congratulate the members from both parties elected to both houses of the 115th Congress.

“It is important for the United States to remain engaged globally and provide leadership on a range of issues affecting our national prosperity, including international trade, climate change, sustainability and support for a rules-based global economy.

“American companies are heavily invested in creating the conditions for expanded U.S. influence internationally and renewed investment and growth at home. USCIB is eager to work with the new Administration and Congress – and with the overseas business partners with whom we have established longstanding close ties – to focus attention on the key issues and initiatives that will undergird America’s growth and success, and strengthen the global economy, in the 21st century.

“The next Administration faces numerous challenges as it takes office. A top priority should be to develop and implement, in concert with the Congress, a strategy for U.S. engagement with the wider world – one that both continues and augments the benefits that American businesses, workers and consumers draw from active participation in the global economy and international institutions. We need policies that anticipate, address and support the demands of a changing American workplace, while addressing the legitimate needs of those displaced or disadvantaged by the 21st-century global economy.

“Such a strategy must recognize and build upon America’s strengths in innovation, entrepreneurship, world-class work force and know-how. It should further seek to leverage American business to reinforce U.S. global leadership, and effectively engage with multilateral institutions to foster international rules and a level playing field that support our competitiveness. It should also seek to make these institutions more accountable and representative of key global stakeholders, including the private sector, in pursuit of shared goals and values.

“We are ready to work with the new Administration and Congress to strengthen U.S. competitiveness, reap the gains from participation in global markets and trade, and deliver benefits in the form of jobs and opportunities for U.S. workers. These objectives can and must be pursued together.”

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 our economy, with operations in every region of the world. As the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers, and Business at OECD, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, VP communications, USCIB
+1 212.703.5043 or jhuneke@uscib.org

The U.S. and Mexico Must Work Together as Neighbors

Published on October 31, 2016

Flag Badges of America and Mexico in PileUSCIB Chairman Terry McGraw has joined with ICC Mexico Chair Maria Fernanda Garza in a joint appeal for the United States and Mexico to work together to address common challenges of trade, immigration and security.

In a joint op-ed in the Mexican newspaper El Financiero, the two business leaders urged their compatriots to reject the antagonism emanating from the U.S. campaign trail, reminding readers of the direct and measurable benefits the North American Free Trade Agreement has brought to both Mexicans and Americans alike.

McGraw and Fernanda Garza finished by reiterating that the business communities of both the United States and Mexico are united in their support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which they urged their respective legislatures to ratify without delay.

Please see below for the English translation of the op-ed. To read it in Spanish on El Financiero’s website, click here.

USCIB and ICC Mexico each serve as their country’s national committees of the International Chamber of Commerce.

 

The U.S. and Mexico Must Work Together as Neighbors

By Harold McGraw III and María Fernanda Garza

If the U.S. presidential campaign has reminded us of anything, it is the importance of neighborliness. Just as your own neighborhood deteriorates if you and your neighbors don’t communicate or work together well, so it is in business and international affairs.

Right now, on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, we face a stark choice: build walls, foster mistrust and disengage our economies – or work together to continue building shared prosperity. As representatives of the business communities from both nations, we strongly urge our fellow countrymen and our leaders to choose the latter course.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement was negotiated more than 20 years ago, Mexico and the United States have enjoyed an increasingly close and mutually beneficial relationship that builds on our respective strengths and abilities, our vibrant economies and vast resources, our unique position as neighbors and, most importantly, our peoples. Mexico, the U.S. and Canada have turned North America into one of the most important and most dynamic free trade areas in the world. It has taken foresight and resolve.

Bilateral trade between Mexico and the U.S. has multiplied by six since NAFTA’s entry into force, reaching nearly $500 billion in 2015. Mexico is now the second-largest export market for U.S. goods and its second-largest supplier. It is estimated that U.S. trade with Mexico supports some six million American jobs.

With a growing, $1 trillion economy and a developing middle class that eagerly consumes U.S. and other foreign products, Mexico is the world’s 9th-largest world importer, and it buys 16 percent of everything the U.S. sells to the world. It is the largest export market for California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and one of the three most important export markets for 29 other U.S. states.

This burgeoning trade relationship is built upon regional economic integration, cooperation and capitalizing on both nations’ competitiveness. Bilateral trade often occurs in the context of shared production, where manufacturers on each side of the border work together to produce goods. The development of robust supply chains as a result of NAFTA has translated into highly integrated trade in such key industries as automobiles, aerospace and electronics.

For instance, Mexican exports to the U.S. contain 40 percent of U.S. value-added, which is much higher than those from South Korea or China which are at five percent and four percent, respectively.

The U.S. and Mexico have a shared interest in fostering economic integration in North America, which is becoming, once again, the most competitive region in the world. Among other things, both countries need to ensure an efficient and secure border, the development of human capital for innovation and the growth of the services sector.

Businesses on both sides of the border firmly believe that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will further strengthen Mexico-U.S. relations, North American competitiveness and our shared prosperity by encouraging competition and setting new and modern disciplines in the Asia-Pacific Region. With TPP, North America will become an even more important export platform to the world, with the consequent creation of jobs. We therefore are urging our respective legislatures to quickly ratify the TPP.

Especially in the face of growing protectionist and isolationist sentiment, we cannot stress strongly enough the critical importance of closer cooperation between our two governments in fostering a strong U.S.-Mexico relationship – one that contributes to shared economic growth, competitiveness and prosperity throughout North America. As neighbors, we have a shared responsibility to keep the neighborhood safe and prosperous.

Harold McGraw III is chairman of the United States Council for International Business. Maria Fernanda Garza chairs the Mexican chapter of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Talking Responsibly About Trade and Investment

Published on October 14, 2016

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The recently launched OECD interim Economic Outlook reveals global GDP growth is projected to slow marginally to 2.9 percent in 2016, and acknowledges trade as an important driver of productivity growth — enhancing competitiveness, enabling greater specialization and facilitating knowledge transfer. Against this background, Bernhard Welschke, secretary general of Business at OECD, called on the OECD and member governments to communicate the benefits of trade more responsibly.

Read Welschke’s posting in the OECD Insights blog.

Transatlantic Trade Talks Lack European Leadership

Published on September 21, 2016

Originally published in the Wall Street Journal on September 20

Many details of TTIP still need to be negotiated. But what’s missing is a sign of seriousness from the EU.

By PETER ROBINSON and THOMAS NILES
Sept. 20, 2016 3:05 p.m. ET

us_eu_flags_3Readers following the progress of negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would be forgiven for thinking that a deal is now impossible. Between the Brexit vote, antitrade rhetoric on the U.S. presidential campaign trail and stern opposition by assorted European political leaders, TTIP appears to lack the kind of serious support needed to succeed.

The commercial and diplomatic logic behind TTIP remain as compelling as ever. An agreement would further open each side’s market to mutual trade, which currently amounts to more than $1 trillion annually. It would strengthen rules-based investment in what is already the world’s largest relationship for foreign direct investment. And it would improve market access for trade in services while tackling costly nontariff barriers, including regulatory obstacles.

Done right, the effort to roll back the impediments to trade and investment between the U.S. and the European Union could be a huge boost to both economies. Business leaders on both sides of the Atlantic are united in support of an ambitious agreement.

But progress in the 4-year-old talks has come more slowly than the governments or the business communities had hoped. TTIP certainly faces headwinds in the U.S., where the two major candidates in this presidential election have turned their backs on a half century of bipartisan trade policy and American global engagement. Instead, they pander to antitrade, isolationist, protectionist forces.

But the greatest challenge to TTIP right now comes from Europe, in the form of naked antitrade and anti-American prejudices from some European leaders.

Over the past couple of years, the European Parliament has consistently belittled American policies and positions, issuing unhelpful “red-line” declarations, for example, that no single EU policy or regulation could possibly be modified under a TTIP agreement, or that the U.S. would have to adopt wholesale the EU’s regulatory regime.

Particularly disappointing have been a series of high-level political statements in recent weeks from senior Austrian, French and German officials calling for a stop to TTIP negotiations because of American intransigence. These complaints are unfounded. In fact, the U.S. has been quite forthcoming about eliminating tariffs on industrial goods and agriculture, as well as removing barriers to trade in services and in government procurement. The EU has declared far more areas of negotiation to be off limits.

While Cecilia Malmström, the EU’s trade commissioner, has, to her credit, defended TTIP, the overall response from the European political leadership has been disappointing. Many prominent EU leaders have remained silent. And while Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown consistency and courage with a strong defense of TTIP, too many other European leaders haven’t matched her commitment or clarity.

Like all real-world negotiations, getting to agreement on TTIP will require tough decisions and compromise. American business groups are joining with other stakeholders in pushing their government to achieve an ambitious,
comprehensive, high-standard TTIP agreement. They have consistently opposed, for instance, the U.S. government’s insistence that the regulation of financial services be excluded from TTIP.

But the real question isn’t what detailed provisions will be included in a TTIP agreement. Rather, it’s whether the EU is serious about the negotiations at all. Will European leaders simply use TTIP to mollify their own critics at home? If the EU is serious about cementing its member economies more closely to each other, then European leaders need to stand up in support of a deal, and they need to do so now. Meanwhile, the European Commission should move quickly to schedule multiple negotiating rounds with the U.S. before the end of the year.

The two sides have agreed to continue talking, with the next round of TTIP negotiations set for early October. Hopefully this will result in actual progress and not additional excuses for delay. Both the U.S. and EU need to show the courage, vision and commitment to the transatlantic relationship and to push forward for the kind of balanced, ambitious, high-standard TTIP that both economies need.

Mr. Robinson is president and CEO of the United States Council for International Business. Mr. Niles, the council’s past president, is a retired U.S. diplomat who served as ambassador to the European Union.

Investment Facilitation – UNCTAD’s Useful Agenda For Pragmatism Over Politics

Published on August 11, 2016

By Peter Robinson, President and CEO, United States Council for International Business

investment_buildingsWe in the international business community are, frankly, not in the habit of finding inspiration in policy papers on the sometimes politically-charged topic of international investment from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), often seen as an organization more aligned with developing country governments. But a recent UNCTAD document, UNCTAD’s Global Action Menu for Investment Facilitation, discussed at last month’s UNCTAD’s Fourteenth Ministerial Conference and, in more detail, at its parallel World Investment Forum, is a valuable contribution to ongoing policy debates on international investment in developing countries, in the U.S., European Union and around the world.

Building off of the important model of the Trade Facilitation Agreement adopted at the World Trade Organization’s ministerial meeting in Bali in December 2013 and currently in the final stages of an extended ratification process among the WTO member countries, the UNCTAD proposal for an Investment Facilitation Action Agenda eschews broad and controversial policy issues related to international investment and, instead, focuses on concrete implementation and facilitation steps which governments, developed or developing, who chose to welcome Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can take to improve their competitiveness as an FDI destination. Out with politicized policy debates on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and in with practical recommendations to help governments attract more and better foreign investments and to do it more quickly and efficiently.

Read the full column at Investment Policy Central.

USCIB Reflections on the New World of Work

Published on July 1, 2016
Ronnie speaking IMG_0183
Ronnie Goldberg (center).

The following remarks were delivered by Ronnie Goldberg, USCIB senior counsel, at the first meeting of the working groups of the XIX Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor (IACML) in Washington, D.C. on June 28. 

First Meeting of the XIX IACML Working Groups

June 28, 2016

Washington DC

PANEL 1 REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW WORLD OF WORK

Remarks given by Ronnie L. Goldberg, Senior Counsel, USCIB and Deputy Vice-Chair, Business Technical Advisory Body on Labour Matters (CEATAL) to the IACML.

Many thanks to the authorities of Working Group 1 (Ministers of Labor of Brazil, Chile and Panama) for inviting me to participate on this Panel on the topic of the new world of work. I am honored to be included alongside representatives of the  ILO, OECD and IADB, as well as the representative of the Ministry of Chile and of course Marta Pujadas, President of COSATE.

The views that I will express are those of both CEATAL and the International Organization of Employers (IOE). CEATAL, business advisory body to the IACML, is composed of employer associations from each OAS member state. Through these organizations, CEATAL represents literally tens of thousands of small, medium and large private employers across the Americas.  The IOE, the world’s largest and most comprehensive business association with members in 142 countries, serves as the secretariat to CEATAL.

The new world of work is high on the agenda of CEATAL because business and employers’ organizations of the Americas are working to anticipate the realities that will confront their members and to provide well-constructed input to policy makers at the national, regional and international level. In common with most of the organizations and governments around this table, IOE has launched a discussion on the Future of Work, addressing many of the issues we are discussing today.

The impact of technology in the new world of work

During our own lifetimes, the context in which work is organized, distributed and performed has changed, irrevocably.  In his Report to the 2015 International Labor Conference, ILO DG Guy Ryder noted that change is taking place at such a speed and at such a scale as to constitute a real transformation of the world of work. A revolution.  We have had industrial and technological revolutions before.  They are disruptive, but they have historically resulted in the growth of economies and productivity, as well as the creation of new jobs. Despite short-term challenges resulting from the replacement of manual labor and the need to upscale skills and competencies, the pace of transformation has historically allowed enough time for education and training institutions to catch up, i.e. to appropriately prepare young people for careers and to equip low and mid-skilled workers with new skills and competencies to function productively. At the same time, population growth accelerated at a relatively consistent rate across the affected economies.

Today, things may be different.  Change is being fueled by technological advances taking place at unprecedented speed and undreamed of scope.  Many studies show that technology is replacing middle-level skills that were once considered uniquely human. With the new and affordable capabilities made possible by automation, a significant number of new job opportunities and new markets will be created. At the same time existing jobs will disappear or be re-designed. In short, widespread technological change are bringing about profound changes in the way we work.  Simultaneously, globalisation, and demographic trends, as well as new ways of organising the production of goods and delivery of services, are both providing a myriad of opportunities to society, and at the same time presenting considerable challenges.

To again quote Guy Ryder, “the debate about the (disruptive) effects of technological changes on jobs is some two centuries old, and the encouraging conclusion to be drawn from the historical record is that over the long term it has created more employment than it has destroyed, and has pushed overall living standards to new levels”. The question that none of us can answer is whether the current technological revolution that promises further applications in such areas as robotics, automation, 3D printing, is inherently different from what has been experienced in the past.

These are issues for all of us. Profound transformations have already taken place in the mature economies of North America.  Other regions of the continent are well placed to benefit from similar transformations.  They enjoy a young and numerous active population – more flexible and mobile, more technologically prepared, with greater participation by women, better educated, and more assertive – which is demanding infrastructure, health care, education, services, and opportunities for work and personal growth.

I can personally attest to this energy and potential in the region.  Last week I attended the OECD Digital Economy Ministerial in Cancun.  Among the collateral events was a Hackathon – a competition among more than 200 young people (nearly 40 percent young women) mostly from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, who divided themselves in teams and competed over a 24 hour period to develop innovative and useful apps. The winning apps were designed to facilitate the transfer of health information to emergency medical personnel, to improve security and independence for the visually impaired, and to make learning history a more immersive experience for teenagers. I took away several lessons from witnessing this phenomenon.  One was the vast potential of the digital economy to bring social benefits. A second is that these young people – the workforce of the future – have different expectations and aspirations for their careers than previous generations.  And a third is the importance of the major policy messages from the Ministerial: the need to preserve and extend the reach of an open Internet and the vital importance of training and education to meet the needs of the future and foster innovation and creativity.

What should we do about it?

History abounds with examples of attempts to resist innovation that should not so much be considered misguided or self-defeating, as simply impossible.

But progress can and must be shaped.  It is up to both developed and developing countries of the hemisphere not only to seize the opportunities but also to help those less willing or able to adapt to face the challenges:

One important element in shaping the future of work lies in labor market regulation. Regulations are essential for the proper functioning of labor markets. They can help correct market imperfections, support social cohesion and encourage economic efficiency. Labor market regulations cover a wide spectrum, from rules governing arrangements for individual contracts to mechanisms for collective bargaining. Evidence shows that labor market regulations can have an impact on a number of economic outcomes- including job creation, job flows, trends in productivity and the speed of adjustments to shocks. The negative effects of both under and over regulation are well documented. The challenge is to develop policies that avoid the extremes and effect a balance of flexibility with worker protection.

One aspect of the necessary flexibility in the new world of work has to do with flexible work arrangements. Self-employed and independent workers are growing in number and new forms of work are appearing (crowd working, teleworking, polling of workers, portfolio work, etc). The 2015 ILO Employment and Social Outlook estimates that fewer than 20 percent of the working population has a full-time open-ended contract. The variety of contractual arrangements continues to grow; employing workers on fixed term contracts to cover seasonal peaks in production, or for a one-off assignment, or to cover for maternity or long-term sick leave are all quite normal and accepted as the new “standard” everywhere.

Demonizing non-standard jobs, either overtly or by implication, ignores the ways in which they can benefit both workers and employers. Well-designed and regulated “non-standard forms of employment” can both protect workers and help enterprises by increasing their ability to respond and adapt to market demands. They can also be a mechanism for retaining and recruiting workers, for more quickly harnessing skills and expertise and most importantly – for Latin America and the Caribbean – for fighting informality. In addition, freely chosen employment in flexible arrangements permits better reconciliation of work, life and family responsibilities.  Looking to the future, we should respond to the new and changing demands of the labor market, by employing various complementary employment strategies and not simply by blocking the new, or trying to make the new fit into the old.

But as we all know, the future of work is not only about more flexible, short-term and transient forms of work but about completely new forms of work. There is every reason to believe that the platform approach begun in the taxi industry will spread to more and more sectors of the economy. At the moment, the platform economy represents a tiny part of even the U.S. economy.  But it will grow, and will inevitably have an impact on employment relationships, social security and tax systems, corporate regulations and generally on labor rights. Let me be clear: When employers speak about labor rights in this context we do not do so with the intention of undermining fundamental labor principles and rights at work, but rather with the intention of ensuring that these rights and standards are meaningful in new work environments that may be very different to the way work has been organized thus far.

The debate on the new world of work in the Americas is complex and diverse. Employers and workers alike are impacted by the rapid pace of change, and business, people, skills, career management and government policies, regulations and institutions will need to adapt to accommodate the new realities.

The challenges and opportunities are different from sub region to sub region and country to country, both for developing and developed countries of the Americas.

The debate will go on for years, in international and regional bodies, and in national governments.

To summarize:

We are facing the rise of more flexible, short-term and transient forms of work, as well as completely new forms of work and new models of business.

These transformations will impact an array of institutional and legal frameworks including social security, taxation systems, trade and investment. To be effective, institutional and legal frameworks should be coherent with an array of policies affecting labour markets. Policies on education, skills and training are essential elements of this package.

Such developments will also have a profound impact on the employment relationship. We will need to rethink this relationship and explore new ways to extend and administer social protection. Other aspects of regulation that will be affected concern health & safety, data protection, and hours of work.  We have a lot to do – and we have to do it together.

Employers are willing to provide credible input to policy makers and trade unions on how we can work together to prepare for the future. This is not only about companies and workers adapting to new technologies or accommodating the impact of social media. It is about transforming mindsets and attitudes towards work.

The Employers of the Americas are ready to bring their voice, experience and expertise to the table assisting the governments of the hemisphere.  Let me give four examples of areas in which we must collaborate:

  • Providing credible evidence based data. In Cancun, the OECD repeatedly made a plea for more and better information and statistics. This is essential for us  to better understand the trends and developments in the labor market and the drivers behind this change. Given the rise in not only flexible forms of work but also new forms of work, a first step is to define these arrangements.
  • Designing modern migration regulations and facilitating talent mobility and skills recognition.  One key feature of  the new world of work must be allowing workers to move across borders.
  • Adapting legal regulations and institutions to the new needs of business, the workforce and workplace. It is not for people to change to ensure that regulations work but regulations themselves need to change and adapt to the new context in order to support individuals. Regulations need also to facilitate the process, instead of being an obstacle to change.
  • Collaborating with schools and universities to develop a curricula and a shared practical knowledge of the market. The education system needs to change to allow a focus on new skills and lifelong learning.

There are many things we don’t know.  But of one thing we can be certain – we need to rethink and reform our education curricula and our training institutions to equip both children and the existing workforce for a future we can’t predict.  This must be a joint effort.

Thank you.

Still Clapping For Investment With Just One Hand

Published on June 17, 2016

By: Shaun Donnelly, USCIB

I was pleased to read earlier this week that Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker had appointed 19 leading representatives from the public and private sectors to the new Investment Advisory Council (IAC) which had been established earlier this year to advise the U.S. government on issues related to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).  We at the US Council for International Business certainly welcome this new IAC and the increased focus on FDI issues. FDI is, indeed, critical to American economic growth and jobs.

But, unfortunately, a little bit of digging with Commerce staff after these appointments were made confirmed my fears that the Department and the U.S. Government are still stuck in a bygone era and clapping for FDI with just one hand.  The U.S. Government still seems stuck in an outdated mercantilist world view where inward FDI is good and deserves strong U.S. government support while outward FDI by U.S. based firms, the other side of the FDI coin and the other hand that could be clapping, is somehow bad and should be punished.  Some in the U.S. Government and on Capitol Hill still seem to think, somehow, that U.S. firms are investing abroad simply to outsource production.  Nothing could be further from reality.  Studies show American firms invest abroad to tap new markets and grow their companies.  Over 95 percent of the production of U.S. investments overseas is sold overseas, generating new revenues and new jobs here at home.

Read the full article at Investment Policy Central

Business Can Help Shape the Future of Global Trade

Published on May 31, 2016

The following op-ed was published in the Wall Street Journal on May 26.

The World Trade Organization is seeking input from the private sector on the next steps for trade liberalization.

By ROBERTO AZEVÊDO And SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL

In the span of two short years, the World Trade Organization has given businesspeople around the world a number of reasons to sit up and take notice. Through a series of negotiated trade agreements, it has demonstrated that its efforts can bring massive, widespread benefits. Now the WTO is looking to work in closer partnership with the private sector to bring further gains to the international trade regime.

In 2013, WTO members delivered the Trade Facilitation Agreement. This was the first global trade deal in 18 years. Once ratified, it promises to slash red tape and reduce border delays. Trade costs will be lowered by an average of nearly 15%. Global trade could be lifted by as much as $1 trillion.

This impact is bigger than if every remaining tariff in the world were reduced to zero. Full implementation could create more than 20 million jobs and lift global gross-domestic-product growth by up to 0.5 percentage points. Businesses around the world will get a significant boost.

Then in 2015, a group of WTO members came together to free up trade on a range of information-technology products, including the latest-generation semiconductors, telecommunications satellites, medical devices and video games.

This deal, expanding the existing Information Technology Agreement, eliminates tariffs on approximately $1.3 trillion in annual exports. That’s more than the value of the global trade in automobiles.

That same year, WTO members agreed on a world-wide ban on export subsidies on agricultural products, the biggest agriculture-trade reform in 20 years. Governments had been spending up to $13 billion on these economically distorting subsidies each year. The private sector supported these deals, and their engagement made a huge difference in the outcome.

Before this recent flurry of breakthroughs at the WTO, businesses had very little interest in trade negotiations. Prolonged lack of progress in global trade negotiations had led many countries to focus elsewhere and pursue bilateral and regional trade initiatives. Such initiatives can deliver significant economic gains, but there’s no question that global agreements can deliver even more benefits to more people.

The private sector recognizes this. A complicated patchwork of overlapping trade regulations and standards is less efficient than global rules. That’s why business leaders want and need a strong WTO.

Shared rules and enhanced market access in 162 countries is something no regional trade agreement can offer. Now that the WTO has showed that it can deliver these results, private-sector interest is rising fast and businesses are asking: What’s next?

The precise shape of the WTO’s future negotiating work remains an open question. All members agree that long-standing differences in agriculture, industrial goods and trade in services must be tackled, and that development should remain a central priority.

But at present there’s no agreement on precisely how to proceed with these negotiations, or what specifically should be on the agenda. Areas for discussion include supporting trade by micro-, small- and medium-size enterprises; promoting and facilitating investments; supporting e-commerce; tackling fisheries subsidies; and lowering nontariff barriers.

In this context, the private sector has asked that its voice to be heard, not to dictate the agenda, but to provide perspective. Two major business organizations, the International Chamber of Commerce and the B-20 (the private-sector arm of the G-20) approached the WTO requesting a platform to discuss current trade issues and present their thoughts to WTO members.

That meeting, the first of its kind, will take place on Monday in Geneva. Business leaders from small and large enterprises, from developed and developing countries, along with other stakeholders, will brainstorm with WTO members. We hope that this interaction will help their governments as they shape the WTO’s future agenda.

In recent years the WTO has shown that, with the support of the private sector and others, it can achieve major, economically significant trade agreements. Strengthening this partnership will ensure that the WTO’s record is maintained and that it keeps delivering for growth, development and job creation around the world.

Mr. Azevêdo is the director-general of the World Trade Organization. Mr. Mittal is the first vice chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Trans-Pacific Partnership’s Vital Role in U.S.-Japan relations

Published on May 27, 2016

The following op-ed by USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson and Kunio Ishihara, vice chairman of the Japanese business federation Keidanren, appeared in The Seattle Times yesterday on the economic and geopolitical benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for the United States, Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. Ishihara led a Japanese business delegation to Seattle and other U.S. cities this week.

You can view the op-ed on The Seattle Times’ website at http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/trans-pacific-partnerships-vital-role-in-us-japan-relations/

BIAC Forum to Spark New Ideas for Better Healthcare

Published on April 20, 2016

By Helen Medina 

Two athletic woman running outdoors. Action and healthy lifestyle concept.

Health is everyone’s business. Not only do we as individuals have a stake, but policymakers need to ensure that national populations are active and healthy for the sake of their economies. OECD countries are keenly aware of this and are striving to develop and maintain sustainable healthcare systems that harness the power of innovation and achieve better health outcomes, greater productivity and well-being. We all know that health challenges are complex and there is no single solution to global problems, but business is a key component to unlocking ideas and providing answers.

Against this backdrop, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC)  is hosting a Forum on Innovation in Health and Well-Being on May 3-4, 2016 in Paris at the OECD Headquarters. This unique two-day event will allow participants to exchange solutions and policy recommendations with high-level representatives from the business community, governments and leading voices in the field. We are thrilled that Riz Khan, a well-known international journalist and author, recognized across the globe for having had flagship TV shows on CNN International and Al Jazeera English, will moderate the discussion.

Follow the event at #BIAChealth

This packed event will showcase the diversity of how business is involved in providing solutions to health care challenges. Participants will learn how the food and drink industries are investing in innovations to deliver healthier products for consumers. As employers, businesses are also providing wellness programs that empower populations and increase productivity. The business community knows that we are just one stakeholder, and the event will showcase examples of partnerships with governments and community stakeholders to reduce risk factors for chronic diseases, as well as education programs that encourage populations to become physically active and adopt healthy lifestyles.

The second day will address business views on how to create sustainable healthcare systems. We believe that a 21st century healthcare system must be patient-centered to be effective, and the integration of digital technologies is vital to making strides in areas of disease prevention and management.  And of course having stakeholder dialogue is crucial to striking a balance between encouraging innovation and improving access to new medicines. Business understands that delivering innovation requires a broad policy framework involving multiple government agencies. Government and business collaboration will be essential in all phases of research. The discussion outcomes of the meeting are relevant for the global health community.

I look forward participating in this unique opportunity and hope to see you in Paris!

Find out more about the BIAC Forum on Innovation in Health and Well-Being.

 

USCIB Monthly Health and Nutrition Blog

March: Global Nutrition: What Is the Private Sector Doing?

February: We’ve All Got to Work Together On Global Health Issues

January: Businesses Celebrate American Heart Month