The International Chamber of Commerce on Monday finalised recommendations for World Trade Organisation member countries to salvage parts of on-going Doha trade
negotiations that could boost global GDP by $960 billion.
Several hundred business leaders and trade experts met for the ICC World Trade Agenda Summit, held on the first day of the ICC WCF 8th World Chambers Congress, the first ever Congress to be held in the Middle East, said an ICC news release on Tuesday.
The four-day Congress in Doha, Qatar is set to gather 1,000 delegates from chambers of commerce, as well as from multinational and small-and medium-sized companies.
On April 22, delegates met to give their stamp of approval to a final set of business priorities that would provide a debt-free stimulus to the global economy at a time when governments are struggling to inject growth into their economies.
By simplifying customs procedures – through trade facilitation measures – alone, member countries would deliver global job gains of 21 million, with developing countries gaining more than 18 million jobs and developed countries increasing their workforce by three million.
ICC and the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry in March 2012 launched the ICC Business World Trade Agenda in response to calls from WTO members and from G20 leaders for fresh approaches following a 12-year impasse in multilateral trade negotiations.
The initiative has developed five recommendations that could achieve tangible outcomes by the end of 2013, to harvest gains from the WTO’s Doha Development Round. These are: conclude a trade facilitation agreement, implement duty-free and quota-free market access for exports from least-developed countries, phase out agricultural export subsidies, renounce food export restrictions and expand trade in IT products and encourage growth of e-commerce worldwide.
-With New Age input
