B20 trade task force calls for immediate implementation of Bali agenda

PARIS - Business leaders meeting to outline priority actions for G20 leaders and Ttrade Ministers have called for immediate action to implement all elements of the WTO Ministerial decisions adopted at the Bali Ministerial Conference in December 2013 — known informally as the Bali Package — in line with commitments made at the Brisbane G20 Summit in 2014.

The Business-20 (B20) trade task force, which includes 68 company executives from 25 countries, met in Istanbul in preparation for the G20 Leaders Summit to be hosted by Turkey in November 2015.
"The world's leading corporations are deeply invested in helping to shape a trade agenda that will deliver economic growth and millions of new jobs," said Güler Guler Sabanci, Chairman of Turkey's Sabanci Holdings, who co-chaired the task force meeting with International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Chairman, Terry McGraw, Chairman of McGraw Hill Financial.
"Trade is key to meeting the G20's growth targets over the next five years, and the G20 plays a critical role in driving the negotiations forward," she said.
Ahead of a meeting with G20 Finance Ministers, the B20 trade task force called on G20 leaders to rapidly implement and ratify the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, stop protectionism, remove supply chain barriers and ensure that plurilateral trade agreements contribute to a stronger multilateral trading system.
The task force also called for progressive leadership by the G20 to liberalise trade in services, encourage the growth of e-commerce, and improve intellectual property protection and enforcement regimes as drivers of economic growth. www.iccwbo.org (ATI).