Trade is at a crossroads. International commerce has helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, but many feel left behind or experience growing inequalities. Shifting geopolitics, innovative business models and changing societal expectations are creating new challenges and opportunities. A complex and shifting trade policy landscape is creating uncertainty for business and investors. Now more than ever, business, governments and citizens must work together to craft policies and practices that make international trade work for everyone and the planet in the 21st century.
The World Economic Forum System Initiative on Shaping the Future of International Trade and Investment aims to inform the policy debate on critical issues and drive practical steps to unlock their full potential by:
-Advancing proposals for modernizing the international trade and investment system
-Catalysing trade facilitation reforms
-Establishing norms for investment policy and global value chains
-Securing agreement on digital trade best practices and a pathway to reform
The System Initiative is a founding partner of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation along with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Center for International Private Enterprise, a major multistakeholder programme between five donor governments and multiple businesses to design and implement trade facilitation projects in emerging markets.
The System Initiative is also an implementer of the E15Initiative in partnership with the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD). The E15Initiative brings together 400 leading experts and business voices to advance strategic options for the global trade and investment system.
Through the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on International Trade and Investment, the System Initiative is providing thought leadership to high-level policy forums such as the G20 and Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) on future challenges facing the trade system. The System Initiative is also active in the World Economic Forum Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution through its work on digital trade and cross-border data flows.
