27-06-2022
"Trade builds bridges that strengthen us as a global community. It equals jobs and creates a livelihood for people. Moreover trade and globalization have contributed to peace and international understanding - and will continue doing so", said Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group. "Our newly established GoTrade Summit attracted committed advocates for trade facilitation to seize its societal advantages. This forum revealed a strong case for public-private initiatives to modernize trade policy in a sustainable and inclusive manner. Together we want to make sure that the implied action points raised throughout the event will translate into actions."
Modern trade policy has to broaden its focus on inclusivity
Participants of the GoTrade Summit agreed to promote inclusiveness of trade. The trade-off between higher economic performance - thanks to free trade - and equality needs to be addressed more thoroughly. In that respect, one finding revealed that trade policy making mechanisms need to ensure that they are transparent and account for the needs of smaller businesses. Offering trade knowledge to local bound small and medium sized businesses while simultaneously reducing complexity in trading across border is the winning recipe for inclusivity.
Close collaboration between the public and private sector, seen with international vaccine logistics, is key to unlocking entire power of global trade
Effective collaboration between private and public institutions in trade facilitation has unfolded its genuine strength with international vaccine logistics. Seeing policy makers strengthen the approach of listening to the private sector working on the ground, as they did by joining to fight the pandemic, can help to unleash the power of trade facilitation. The collaboration between logistics providers, governments and international organizations seen on shipping COVID-19 vaccines serves as a blueprint for cross border transactions. The processes and practices introduced during the pandemic have served countries well and revealed the power of a coordinated approach to assure seamless supply chain effectiveness. Levering this approach may help cross border trade to grow even faster, reducing congestion e.g. through implementing pre-arrival clearance of goods.
Digital tools and technologies will play an ever-increasing role in trade facilitation
Digitalization is a critical enabler for more inclusive trade policy. Implementing digital solutions help to improve the performance and efficiency of trade and customs procedures further adding greater legal certainty and driving better compliance. Particularly small business have always struggled with the complexity of global trade. Now, on the one hand digitalization makes this easier, but on the other hand, digital solutions need to stay inclusive. As a conclusion projects to digitize trade require a focus on implementation efforts and investments needed in using them. Only by keeping both in a manageable magnitude also for SMEs will enable them to enter global markets.
SMEs suffer disproportionately from trade barriers
Most business activity still takes place inside national borders, and the flows that do cross national borders mainly take place between neighboring countries. Prevailing trends still point to a future with large business opportunities to gain from stronger links to the wider world. SME’s need empowerment, training and financial support to tackle those advantages of cross border trade especially in developed and least developed countries.
About the GoTrade Summit
On 27th and 28th January 2022 Deutsche Post DHL Group hosted its inaugural GoTrade Summit with the theme "Connecting People, Improving Lives". It was hosted at the DHL Innovation Centre in Troisdorf , Germany. While Moderators and Hosts participated in person, panelists attended either in person or remotely via video streaming technologies. Of the 600 participants, the majority joined the event using the conference’s web-portal and streaming facilities. Participation in the event was by invitation only.
About GoTrade
GoTrade is a social impact program of Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL) that seeks to make the world a better place through public private partnerships that foster international trade and sustainable economic growth. Particular focus is placed on: increasing the number and volume of small and medium-sized businesses (SME) in developing and least developed countries that trade across borders; reducing barriers to trade through trade facilitation; and leveraging DPDHL resources and capabilities to help countries implement best-in-class trade and custom procedures.
Source: Deutsche Post DHL