Avoiding economic nationalism
ICC calls on G8
The G8 summit should resist pressures to resort to economic
nationalism and should further strengthen international cooperation to
meet the challenges posed by the global recession, climate change and
product counterfeiting, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
urged Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
"We stressed to the Prime Minister the importance of resisting
protectionist pressures, which would only lead to a deeper and longer
world recession," ICC Honorary Chairman Marcus Wallenberg said following
the private session.
"With the world as economically integrated as it has become over
recent decades, any lurch into economic nationalism would dislocate
commercial activity even further," Wallenberg said.
Meetings between the host of the annual G8 summit and the ICC
leadership have become traditional and allow the views of the world
business community to be presented at the highest levels. The business
views were also detailed in a six page statement, which was given to
Berlusconi at the meeting.
In addition to Wallenberg, the ICC delegation included ICC Vice
Chairman Rajat Gupta and Andrea Tomat, Chairman of ICC Italy and CEO of
Lotto Sport Italia.
The delegation also conveyed to Berlusconi, who will host the G8
summit in L'Aquila on July 8-10 the urgent need to increase trade
finance on which international trade - the lifeblood of the
international economy - heavily depends.
"ICC continues to urge official development banks and export
guarantee agencies to significantly expand their trade finance
facilities during the global recession," Wallenberg said.
ICC leaders again called on the G8 to finally summon the political
will to complete the long-stalled Doha Round of trade negotiations,
saying the current global crisis made it more urgent than ever to
achieve that objective. ICC praised the recent promises by G20 leaders
to refrain from raising trade barriers before the end of 2010.
The ICC delegation said that, while there were some hopeful signs
that the recession may be bottoming out in some major economies, the
immediate priority was to increase demand and credit. It also urged the
world's most industrialized countries to find more effective ways to
reduce the growing imbalances in their external current accounts and
warned against a mood of regulatory enthusiasm in business sectors where
self-regulation is working well.
Tackling climate change
ICC encouraged the G8 to play a leadership role in fighting climate
change and expressed strong support for the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change that will try to reach a new global
agreement in Copenhagen this December to regulate green house gas
emissions.
ICC said the new agreement must include all major green house gas
emitters and provide business with a clear, stable, and predictable
framework to stimulate investment and deploy technology on the necessary
scale.
Stopping counterfeiting and piracy
The ICC delegation said that while it was encouraged that product
counterfeiting and copyright piracy have become a regular topic on the
G8 summit agenda, the problem continues to grow and presents a rapidly
increasing danger to society.
ICC called for concrete action in this vital area, including the
swift conclusion of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that will set
new and higher standards for national and international governmental
action to deal with counterfeiting and piracy and the creation of an IPR
Customs Taskforce - charging it with the responsibility to establish
better operational cooperation amongst G8 customs authorities, support
customs capacity-building in developing countries, and share best
practices on security controls and free trade zones.
"Strengthening the fight against counterfeiting and piracy at the
borders is critical", said Tomat.
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