Business In Society Archives

USCIB Co-Sponsors Sports and Human Rights Event

Published on March 15, 2019

Please join us for an exciting workshop with the Center for Sports and Human Rights. Please see below for more information about the event and how to RSVP.

RSVP for April 9th Workshop on the new Center for Sport & Human Rights

Together with the Institute for Human Rights and Business, USCIB will co-sponsor a full-day workshop to highlight the newly launched Center for Human Rights and Sport. The goal of this convening is to raise awareness to U.S. companies of the role of the new center, understand the connection between sport and human rights, and share ways companies can engage. Confirmed speakers include representatives from the U.S. Department of State, former Olympic athletes, and private sector companies. An agenda can be found here.

  • Date/time: April 9, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
  • Venue: Offices of White & Case LLP, Washington DC
  • RSVP : www.ihrb.org/uscib-rsvp

At B20, Robinson Stresses Need for International Cooperation

Published on March 15, 2019
Peter Robinson at the B20 in Japan

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson was in Japan the week of March 11 for the B20 Summit, alongside other business leaders such as John Denton, secretary general and Paul Polman, chair of the International Chamber of Commerce, Phil O’Reilly, chair and Russell Mills, secretary general of Business at OECD, as well as Erol Kiresepi, chairman of the International Organization of Employers.

Robinson spoke on a panel titled, “Global Economy for All: International Cooperation for Global Governance.” In his remarks, Robinson proposed looking at international cooperation from two perspectives: strengthening global institutions and rules, while also encouraging bottom-up approaches and a general spirit of cooperation, rather than confrontation, in international economic relations.

“For the foreseeable future, we will need to accept that many electorates and governments view the world through a more nationalistic, mercantilist lens,” said Robinson. “We need to demonstrate the value in international cooperation, not just through new binding rules and official structures, but through voluntary, bottom-up initiatives. Efforts such as the Paris Climate Agreement, or the plurilateral agreements being pursued by WTO members on several issues including digital trade, should be welcomed and encouraged.”

Throughout the course of the panel, Robinson also touched upon trade conflicts with China, WTO modernization, and the need to radically reform education, job training and retraining approaches around the world.

Robinson also called out climate change as being a crucial long-term global challenge. “Climate impacts everything – economic growth, jobs, health care, where people live,” stressed Robinson. “We therefore need to view climate and energy policy in a more holistic manner.”

The Japan Times covered the B20 and quoted Robinson in their piece, “At B20 in Tokyo, World Business Leaders Urge Stronger Cooperation on Looming Challenges.” The Japan Times quoted Robinson emphasizing that “The American business community still believes in open trade, globalization and multilateralism.”

Robinson also applauded the B20’s prioritization of adoption and dissemination of artificial intelligence to ensure that AI development deployment remains “human-centric”. This issue will be a big focus of the digital economy conference that USCIB is organizing with Business at OECD (BIAC) and the OECD on March 25 in Washington, DC.

USCIB to Hold Meeting on APEC Essentials

Published on March 12, 2019

You have heard about the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation regional forum, also known as APEC, but you are not entirely sure of the format, or how your company or business association would benefit from participation.  Here is a rare opportunity to have all of your APEC questions answered, and to bring you up to speed on recent developments at the most recent Senior Officials’ Meeting under this year’s leadership of Chile.

On March 27, USCIB will join with the National Center for APEC (NCAPEC) and C&M International to host APEC Essentials, a workshop to help participants understand the fundamentals of APEC including its history, objectives and opportunities. Learn from practical case studies led by industry discussants on how several sectors approach priority issues and leverage the APEC platform.

Besides USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson, the program will also feature His Excellency Alfonso Silva Navarro, ambassador of Chile to the United States; Emily Fischer, principal APEC coordinator, economic policy advisor, U.S. Department of State; Jillian DeLuna, director for APEC affairs, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; Monica Hardy Whaley, president, National Center for APEC; and Ambassador Robert Holleyman, president and chief executive, Crowell & Moring International; Partner, Crowell & Moring; former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative.

Private sector participation in APEC is organized under the leadership of the NCAPEC, which serves as the designated 2019 U.S. Strategic Partner for the CEO Summit, Secretariat to the U.S. members of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and as Chair and Secretariat of the U.S. APEC Business Coalition.

USCIB joined with ABAC and APEC Business Coalition partners to advance common objectives during last year’s APEC leadership by Papua New Guinea. Throughout 2018, USCIB addressed a number of issues through APEC to advance discussions across a range of issue. These include chemicals regulation, advertising self-regulation, data privacy, customs, and digital trade. USCIB members and staff have engaged in several APEC working groups, including the Chemical Dialogue, APEC Business-Customs Dialogue, Customs Procedures Virtual Working Group, Alliance for Supply Chain Connectivity, the Electronic Commerce Steering Group and Data Privacy Subgroup.

“USCIB looks forward to the APEC Essentials workshop and we thank Crowell & Moring for hosting this event,” said Vice President of Product Policy and Innovation Mike Michener, who leads USCIB’s work on APEC.  “USCIB appreciates the numerous committed partnerships that APEC has established with the private sector.  These partnerships are addressing many economic opportunities, particularly on trade and regulatory issues, that will help foster greater economic integration among APEC’s twenty-one member economies.”

Donnelly Visits Google During Trade Tour in Switzerland

Published on March 11, 2019

USCIB Vice President for Investment and Financial Services Shaun Donnelly spent the week of March 4 as the business representative on a Washington Think Tank study tour of Switzerland, focusing on trade issues and possibilities for a potential U.S.-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

While in Zurich, Donnelly and the 12-member study tour visited Google Switzerland’s major operations and R&D center. Google’s Zurich operations are the company’s third-largest R&D operation globally and their largest outside the United States. Google opened its first office in Zurich only fifteen years ago and it has quickly grown into one of the largest and most respected employers in the city.

Coincident with the study tour’s visit, Google invited the leadership of economiesuisse, Switzerland’s largest and most influential business association to a luncheon meeting with the visiting Washington team. Economiesuisse is USCIB’s Swiss counterpart and partner in Business at OECD, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and other international business fora.

IOE Secretary General Shares Global Priorities With USCIB

Published on March 6, 2019
L-R: Gabriella Rigg Herzog (USCIB), Peter Robinson (USCIB), Ronnie Goldberg (USCIB), Roberto Suarez Santos (IOE)

On March 1, Roberto Suarez Santos, secretary general of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), visited USCIB’s New York headquarters to discuss the group’s global priorities and evolution as it gets ready to mark its centennial next year.

The IOE, based in Geneva, is part of USCIB’s global network and serves as the voice of the private sector on employment, labor and social affairs in the International Labor Organization (ILO), as well as a number of other multilateral bodies.

Suarez Santos met with USCIB staff and members (with help from a video link to our Washington, DC office), led by USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson, who serves on the IOE management board and as an IOE regional vice president for North America. The IOE secretary general outlined the organization’s recent growth, now up to 30 staff members, and its engagement beyond its traditional ILO role, especially in the area of sustainability, business and human rights, and broader responsible business conduct policy and practice.

Suarez Santos also noted the IOE’s longstanding complaints against the government of Venezuela due to its harassment of the Venezuelan employers federation Fedecamaras, which has resulted in the creation of an ILO commission of inquiry – the ILO’s highest level investigative procedure. USCIB and its fellow IOE members remain concerned about the situation for employers in Venezuela and will follow this ILO procedure closely.

Conference to Help Policymakers Navigate Fast-Evolving Digital Economy

Published on February 26, 2019

Washington, D.C., February 26, 2019 – With the digital economy delivering innovations at breakneck speed, how can policymakers maximize the beneficial impacts of new technologies and business models, while also addressing challenges they may create? This is the fundamental question to be tackled at a March 25 conference in Washington, D.C.: “Going Digital: OECD Insights for a Changing World.”

The conference, a joint program of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), Business at OECD (BIAC) and the 36-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), will bring together an array of experts from business, government, the technical community and civil society.

“Since the OECD launched its Going Digital project two years ago, it has sought to help policymakers foster an environment that enables national economies and societies to prosper in a world that is increasingly digital and data-driven,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson. “This conference will provide a first readout of discussions at the OECD’s pivotal Going Digital Summit, which takes place March 11-12 in Paris, while also serving as a platform for discussion of developments in the digital economy from an American perspective.”

Topics for discussion include:

  • Making the Digital Transformation Work for Growth and Well-Being
  • The OECD’s “Going Digital” Policy Recommendations: From Paper to Practice
  • Securing the Digital Economy rom Cyber-Threats
  • Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Economic and Social Prosperity

Confirmed speakers for the conference include:

  • Andrew Wyckoff, director of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation
  • Robert Strayer, deputy assistant secretary for cyber and international communications and information policy, U.S. Department of State
  • David Redl, administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce
  • Gail Slater, special assistant to the president for technology, telecommunications and cybersecurity policy, National Economic Council, The White House
  • Lynne Parker, assistant director for artificial intelligence, Office of Science and Technology, The White House

Held at the AT&T Forum for Technology, Entertainment and Policy, this event is the latest in the Joseph H. Alhadeff Digital Economy Conference Series, named in honor of the late Oracle Corp. executive who provided crucial business leadership on digital economy topics at the OECD and in many other forums.

More information is available on the conference website.

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, generating $5 trillion in annual revenues and employing over 11 million people worldwide. As the U.S. affiliate of several leading international business organizations, including BIAC, 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, USCIB

jhuneke@uscib.org, +1 212.703.5043

 

ICC UK’s Chris Southworth Discusses Brexit Burdens in FT Letter

Published on February 19, 2019

On February 8, the Financial Times published a timely letter from Chris Southworth, the secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce ‘s UK national committee, on the adverse impact a “hard Brexit” could have on smaller British traders.

According to Southworth, all the excellent work to ensure port operations remain efficient post Brexit should not distract from the fact that the burden, risk and cost of new trading arrangements will be shifted upstream to companies who will have to do all the additional paperwork before their goods reach the port.

“We need the government to be a lot more honest with business. Leaving the single market will mean hard borders and new burdens,” he wrote in the letter.

To read the full letter, visit FT’s website (paid subscription required). Click here to visit ICC UK’s website.

USCIB Foundation and OECD Partner on ICT Conference

Published on February 19, 2019

The USCIB Foundation, Inc., USCIB’s educational arm, is teaming up once again with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Business at OECD (BIAC), to host the 1st inaugural event of The Joseph H. Alhadeff Digital Economy Conference Series on March 25, 2019 at the AT&T Forum For Technology, Entertainment & Policy in Washington, D.C.

The digital transformation of the global economy has revealed exciting potential for a more prosperous, productive, inclusive, and socially beneficial world. We need an enabling policy environment for investment and innovation, however, in order to make the most of the potential for digital transformation to improve people’s lives and generate prosperity. At the same time, we must be prepared to address how the fruits of digital innovation can create challenges to privacy, security, and the future of work.

This conference – the fourth such collaboration between USCIB, BIAC, and the OECD – will explore the findings of the OECD’s Going Digital Project, an ambitious two-year examination of how digital transformation affects policymaking across a large spectrum of policy areas. We will draw upon the expertise of the OECD Secretariat on Science, Technology, and Innovation, senior U.S. government officials, and business experts from USCIB and BIAC member companies. In particular, speakers will consider how best to secure the digital economy from ever-more sophisticated cybersecurity threats. In addition, experts will delve into both the promise and challenges of tapping the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies.

Featured Speakers

  • David Redl
    Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce
  • Robert Strayer
    Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cyber and International Communications and Information Policy, U.S. Department of State
  • Gail Slater
    Special Assistant to the President for Technology, Telecommunications and Cybersecurity Policy, National Economic Council, The White House
  • Andrew Wyckoff
    Director of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI)
  • Russel Mills
    Secretary General, Business at OECD
  • Anne Carblanc
    Head of the OECD Digital Economy Policy Division (CDEP)
  • Julie Brill
    Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation and Co-Chair, Business at OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP)
  • Laurent Bernat
    OECD Secretariat, OECD Global Forum on Digital Security for Prosperity
  • Molly Lesher
    OECD Secretariat, Going Digital Project

Sponsored by:

AT&T
Facebook
The Walt Disney Company
Verizon Communications
CenturyLink
Computer & Communications Industry Association

For more information, please visit the event website.

ICC Secretary General Meets With USCIB Members, Staff

Published on February 12, 2019
John Denton

John Denton, the Australian lawyer and diplomat who last year took the reins as secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the world business organization that serves as the linchpin of USCIB’s global network, met with USCIB members and staff during a visit to New York in early February.

Leading representatives of USCIB member companies from a variety of industries, and reflecting a wide spectrum of expertise across USCIB’s various policy committees, gathered in USCIB’s New York and Washington, D.C. offices. Joined by video conference, they provided the ICC secretary general with their views and priorities across multiple practice areas. Denton took advantage of the opportunity to compare notes on a variety of global economic and business challenges, and laid out his efforts to streamline and re-imagine ICC’s vision, structure and services.

Denton was elected to head the secretariat of the Paris-based ICC in March of last year. A legal expert and adviser on global policy, international trade and investment and infrastructure, Denton previously served on ICC’s Executive Board and, in 2016, became the first Australian to hold the position of first vice chair of ICC.

 

USCIB Releases 2019 Trade and Investment Priorities

Published on February 5, 2019

USCIB has published its 2019 Trade and Investment Agenda. The Agenda is a result of an intensive consultation process with USCIB members to identify key member priorities for 2019. Per member input, many key principles developed for 2018 remain relevant for this year, though the changing trade and investment landscape has also raised new priorities for 2019.

The annual action plan anticipates a potentially busy year on trade and investment including: pressing for congressional approval of USMCA in 2019, seeking Administration action to resolve differences with China, movement on trade negotiations with Japan, EU and the UK, supporting negotiations in the WTO on a digital trade agreement, and modernizing the WTO,” said USCIB Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs Rob Mulligan. “We look forward to a busy and productive year opening international markets and strengthening the global rules-based trade and investment framework.”

The 2019 Agenda will be shared with key U.S. government policymakers.