Exploring New Approaches to Trade Investment and Jobs Agenda

AGENDA

8:00 – 9:00 Registration / Continental Breakfast

9:00 – 9:30 Welcome / Opening Comments

Peter Robinson, President and CEO, USCIB
Phil O’Reilly, Chairman, BIAC; Chief Executive, BusinessNZ
Mari Kiviniemi, Deputy Secretary General, OECD; Former Prime Minister of Finland

9:30 – 10:45 SESSION 1

Global Value Chains: Changing Policies for Changing Business Models

Companies are adapting to political, technological, and economic changes around the world by creating global value chains (GVCs) that drive growth, innovation, and jobs. The pathbreaking work of the OECD-WTO on Trade in Value Added (TiVA) finds that between 30% and 60% of G20 country exports are comprised of imported inputs, or are used as inputs by others. Services account for 42% of exports in value-added terms. The new configurations of production and trade that characterize GVCs force us to think differently about trade and investment policy. Policies that force localization, restrict the flow of data, favor state-owned entities, or impose regulatory impediments to trade undercut the ability of companies to take advantage of GVCs. This session will look at how the TiVA data helps policymakers understand the impact of GVCs on economic growth and development and will explore which trade and investment policies facilitate the operation of GVCs as major contributors to growth, competitiveness and jobs.

Moderator – Anabel Gonzalez, Senior Director, The World Bank Group Global Practice on Trade and Competitiveness; Former Minister of Foreign Trade, Costa Rica
Cathy Novelli, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, U.S. Department of State
Ken Ash, Director for Trade and Agriculture, OECD
Ambassador Karan Bhatia, Vice President and Senior Counsel, Global Government Affairs and Policy, General Electric; Former Deputy United States Trade Representative
Rob Mulligan, Senior Vice President, Policy and Government Affairs, USCIB

10:45 – 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:15 SESSION 2

Tackling Regulatory Barriers in Trade Agreements: Insights From the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI)

Services are becoming an ever larger part of the global economy. However, regulatory barriers can increase the costs facing firms operating internationally and hold back growth and job-creation. The innovative OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) released earlier this year documents the extent of restrictive measures on services which generate a huge proportion of the wealth and jobs in the most advanced economies. Issues of conflicting, duplicative, or burdensome regulations are at the heart of negotiations in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This session will draw on insights from the STRI in addressing what countries can do to unilaterally reduce domestic regulatory barriers and what they can do in trade agreements to promote greater regulatory coherence across borders.

Moderator – Ambassador Fernando de Mateo, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the WTO; Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO, Chair of the OECD Trade Committee
Crawford Falconer, Head of Trade in Services Division, OECD; Former Deputy Secretary the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Mark Linscott, Assistant United States Trade Representative for WTO and Multilateral Affairs
Damien Levie, First Counselor, Head of the Trade and
Agriculture Section, Delegation of the European Union to the United States
Rick Johnston, Managing Director, International Government Affairs, Citigroup; Executive Board Vice Chair, BIAC; Chair of USCIB Trade and Investment Committee

12:15 – 1:45 Lunch

Keynote Dialogue

Ambassador Michael Froman, United States Trade Representative
Moderator – Harold McGraw III, Chair, McGraw Hill; Chairman, ICC; Chairman, USCIB

1:45 – 3:00 SESSION 3

Foreign Direct Investment: Why Investment Protections are Critical to Growth and Jobs

International investments foster growth, innovation and sustainable development. They have been facilitated by strong protection for foreign investors in investment treaties. The OECD has developed a Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) that helps governments design and implement policy reforms to create an attractive, robust, and competitive environment for domestic and foreign investment. At the same time, the OECD publishes an FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index that gauges the restrictiveness of a country’s FDI rules. These OECD products are particularly relevant at a time when the need for investment agreements and investor-state dispute settlement systems is being debated, especially in the context of the TTIP negotiations. Although many countries continue to strongly support treaty protection for foreign investors, some are seeking modifications and in a few cases countries are terminating treaties. This session, utilizing OECD data, will examine how investor protection provisions promote trade and investment and will discuss concerns about current mechanisms for settling disputes between foreign investors and states.

Moderator – Daniel Price, Managing Director, Rock Creek Global Advisors; Former Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics
Pierre Poret, Deputy Director, Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, OECD
Dr. Heinz Hetmeier, Director of Trade Policy, German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy
Michael Tracton, Office Director, Office of Investment Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Ambassador Shaun Donnelly, Vice President, Investment and Financial Services, USCIB; Former Assistant United States Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East
Kimberley Claman, Senior Vice President, International Government Affairs, Citigroup; Former Deputy Assistant USTR for Financial Services

3:00 – 3:15 Coffee Break

3:15 – 4:30 SESSION 4

Reconciling Regional, Plurilateral and Multilateral Trade Agreements: Threat or Opportunity?

Are regional and plurilateral trade agreements a threat to the multilateral system, or do they provide the stepping stones for preserving the momentum towards more open trade and investment, setting global standards which will ultimately be multilateralized? OECD has looked extensively into the question of whether deep provisions in RTAs can be multilateralized on a wide range of issues, from government procurement, to IP, transparency, competition, services and more. A synthesis of their findings has recently been published in a report entitled “Deep Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements: How Multilateral Friendly?” This session will discuss those findings and look forward to identifying how to reconcile the two movements and whether there are risks to the multilateral system posed by a proliferation of regional and plurilateral trade agreements.

Moderator – The Honorable James Bacchus, Chair, Greenberg Traurig Global Practice; Former Chairman of the Appellate Body and Chief Judge at the WTO; Former Congressman (FL-11, FL-15); Chairman, ICC Commission on Trade and Investment Policy
Ambassador Susan Schwab, Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland; Strategic Advisor, Mayer Brown; Former United States Trade Representative
Iza Lejarraga, Senior Analyst, Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, OECD
Clifford Sosnow, Partner, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP; Chair, BIAC Trade Committee
Ed Gresser, Executive Director, ProgressiveEconomy, Global Works Foundation; USTR Scholar in Residence; Former Policy Advisor to United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky

4:30 – 5:45 SESSION 5

What Next for the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement?

The trade facilitation element of the December 2013 Bali package has the potential to significantly reduce trade costs. The OECD has developed a set of Trade Facilitation Indicators that identify areas for action by governments and enable the potential impact of reforms to be assessed. According to OECD estimates, total costs for low income countries would be reduced by 14.1 percent, by 15.1 percent for lower middle income countries and by 12.9 percent for upper middle income countries (assuming full implementation). This session will review the current state of implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and discuss how the business community can best contribute to ensuring that benefits are maximized.

Moderator – Scott Miller, William M. Scholl Chair in International Business, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Yonov Frederick Agah, Deputy Director General of the WTO
Trudy Witbreuk, Head of Development Division, OECD (Click for PowerPoint)
Ambassador Wayne McCook, Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the WTO
Leslie Griffin, Senior Vice President, International Public Policy, United Parcel Service

5:45 – 6:00 Closing Remarks

Ken Ash, OECD