Removal of trade barriers tops business people agenda: B-20 Turkey

SINGAPORE

Businesspeople want to see the removal of trade barriers as well as more participation from small and medium-scaled enterprises (SMEs) in the global supply chain, according to a survey by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

“The removal of trade barriers tops the agenda of businesspeople across the world. In this vein, they want to see the signing of the Bali Agreement, which aims at lowering global trade barriers and is the first deal reached through the World Trade Organization that is approved by all its members, according to our survey,” said the head of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and B-20 Turkey President, Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu.

Hisarcıklıoğlu announced the results of the survey, which saw the participation of 100 businesspeople from 60 countries, at the B-20 panel during an ICC meeting in Singapore on March 19.

Some 65 percent of the participating businesspeople said they want to see the signing and implementation of the Bali Agreement immediately, according to the survey results.

A majority of businesspeople said they want to see more incentives for foreign direct investments across the world, especially when the expected rate decision of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) puts pressure on the markets.

They also said Islamic finance was a good way to overcome the deadlocks in the global banking sector, according to the survey results, while around 40 percent of the participants said SMEs should take a bigger share in the global supply chains.

“The survey results show us there is a strong need for measures which will fuel trade between countries,” Hisarcıklıoğlu said.

He noted the G-20 presidency was a great opportunity for Turkey to show its economic potential to the world and to play a big role in policy-making processes in the world economy.

“As the B-20 Turkey representatives, we visited Saudi Arabia three weeks ago. Today we met businesspeople from 60 countries. We’ll make such regional consultation meetings in many other countries from India and China to South Africa and Russia,” he said.

Hisarcıklıoğlu also said they would attend the IMF/World Bank meetings in the U.S. in April to discuss and set the global economy agenda with other B-20 task forces, as the business representatives from Turkey.

“We plan to make the second joint meetings of B-20 task forces in Paris in June during the OECD week. In addition to regional consultation and task force meetings, we’ll also hold thematic conferences in the capital city Ankara and Istanbul with the attendance of ministers from the G-20 countries,” he said.

The B-20 Turkey has worked through six task forces, including “Trade,” “Infrastructure and Investments,” “Growth Financing,” “Employment,” “Fight against Corruption” and “SMEs and Entrepreneurship.”