The OECD International Business Dialogue 2013, held earlier this month in Paris in partnership with BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, brought together government officials and business representatives from OECD member countries, as well as major emerging economies, to identify the most pressing obstacles to international trade and contribute to informed policymaking based on first-hand insights.

As part of the dialogue, the OECD asked companies to complete a survey entitled, “What are the obstacles that your company faces in doing business internationally?” The survey is available here. Results will be made available in April.

USCIB Senior Vice President Rob Mulligan presented dialogue participants with the key findings of a recent study commissioned by USCIB and the Business Roundtable on the emergence of global supply networks as key platforms for international trade and investment. He said governments have a lot to do in terms of facilitating cross-border commerce if they want to avoid standing in the way of their own countries’ potential economic progress.

“Many governments don’t seem to recognize that the way companies do business globally has changed over the last 10-15 years, or they are intentionally trying to turn the clock back on current business models,” Mulligan said. “Our member companies are encountering policies and practices in many countries that seek to limit their ability to move goods and services across borders. These policies make it more difficult for companies to build and utilize the supply networks that are critical to their growth.”

The chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, Gerard Worms, discussing ICC’s Open Market Index, which rates countries on their openness to international trade and investment, said that government authorities equipped with better information on their country’s market performance were better able to honor commitments on open trade and investment and resist taking protectionist measures to “protect” domestic industries and jobs.

“While G20 leaders play a key role in ensuring that governments around the world work collectively to lower trade barriers and stimulate growth and job creation, the Open Markets Index reveals that rather than leading by example, most G20 countries achieve only average scores for openness,” said Worms. “In particular, high-growth BRIC economies tend to perform below average on most measures of openness.” Read more on ICC’s website.

U.S. business delegation visits OECD

Later in the month, BIAC Chairman Charles Heeter (Deloitte), who also serves on USCIB’s board, led a delegation of executives from primarily American companies to Paris to meet with OECD officials and learn more about the organization’s work, priorities and interface with the business community.

Over two days, the delegation discussed broad global economic challenges and the OECD’s work related to the G20, as well as OECD initiatives in the areas of tax, trade, the Internet, corporate governance and energy.

All told, executives from some three dozen companies took part in the delegation.

Staff contact: Rob Mulligan

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Preparations for this year’s Group of 20 Summit, which takes place September 5-6 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, are well underway, with last year’s Mexican hosts essentially handing off to Russia in December. USCIB is working with all three of our affiliated global business bodies to advance a positive private-sector agenda at the summit, which will again feature a high-level business component known as the B20.

The International Chamber of Commerce is a leading member of the B20 organizing group, which is working with Alexander Shokhin, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, to facilitate business input to the summit. ICC plans to hold a number of preparatory events through its 30-member G20 Advisory Group – whose members include USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw
of McGraw-Hill and USCIB Trustee Andrew Liveris of Dow – and has published an informative update on its G20 activities.

Focus on apprenticeships

Both the International Organization of Employers and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD are also taking part in preparations for the B20, with a special remit to engage with governments on labor and employment policy. As part of this, the two organizations have forged a joint initiative on apprenticeships as a follow-up to the Mexico B20 business commitments on employment. In December, they released an initial overview of national initiatives to promote apprenticeships and internships.

Building on their findings, IOE and BIAC plan to create a global company network for apprenticeships, with the aim of facilitating exchange of information and joint action, increasing the visibility of companies’ engagement in vocational education and training, and fostering dialogue with policy makers and other actors at the national and international level.

IOE and BIAC will again spearhead business representation to the G20 Labor Ministerial, which takes place July 18 in Moscow.

In addition, USCIB members met in Washington on January 31 with Fabrizio Pagani, head of the OECD’s “Sherpa” office for G20 and G8 affairs, to discuss OECD contributions to the G20 Summit and related matters. OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria participates in the G20 Summit along with the heads of several other international agencies.

Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk informed Congress that the Obama administration plans to enter into negotiations for a new international agreement on trade in services. With negotiations encompassing the United States and 20 other countries soon to be launched in Geneva, the initiative is one of a number of “plurilateral” efforts expected to be undertaken in the wake of failure to make meaningful progress toward completing the Doha Round.

According to USTR, the negotiation partners account for nearly two-thirds of global trade in services. In his letter to lawmakers, Kirk cited a recent Peterson Institute for International Economics study estimating that tradable services are five times less likely to be exported than manufactured products. The U.S. is the world’s largest service provider.

“This is an important new initiative, and one we will be following closely at USCIB,” said Rob Mulligan, USCIB’s senior vice president for Washington. “Services are an enormous and growing part of our economy and our overall trade. The opportunities to drive U.S. economic growth and jobs through a services plurilateral are quite significant.”

Mulligan said advancing the new services talks would be an important objective in USCIB’s trade and investment policy agenda for 2013. Other top priorities include concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, starting negotiations on a U.S.-EU trade and investment agreement, addressing forced localization regulations and expanding product coverage under the WTO Information Technology Agreement.

Among the other parties expected to take part in the talks are Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea and Mexico. One country that is not an initial party to the negotiations is China. In 2006, USCIB and the United States Council Foundation published a study on U.S.-China trade in services, which foresaw growing export opportunities for services. According to USTR, the U.S. had a services trade surplus with China of $13 billion in 2011.

“Obviously, the opportunities in China and other emerging markets are tremendous,” said Mulligan. “But we understand and appreciate the need to work with like-minded countries to achieve the most ambitious liberalization possible. Hopefully other countries would join a services agreement down the road.”

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