A number of headlines concerning international trade have hit the press.
Starting with the announcement that the U.S. and India have resolved differences relating to the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement — giving new life to the December 2013 Bali Agreement — and continuing with renewed impulse given to the Asia-Pacific free trade agreement, and ending with the Brisbane Communiqué of the G-20, most initiatives at the worldwide level seem to have accelerated in a direction that is advocated by our constituency.
As facilitators of trade, freight forwarders believe that the wealth of nations and their people can only grow if international trade grows, and if international organizations work to eliminate barriers, cut red tape and improve connectivity by encouraging investment in infrastructure for trade.
Of course, we are advocating sustainable growth: We are convinced world trade can grow with a strongly reduced impact on the environment, and we are cooperating with international organizations to bring our frontline experience on how such impact can be mitigated.
Another challenge is capacity building: We believe that education and training is the most important investment for the future; for many years, we have had a remarkable vocational training structure in place. This provides a “portable knowledge” in the worldwide logistics sector.
Security has been a subject of important debate in our industry for the last decade: We are strongly advocating harmonization and mutual recognition of all security rules to avoid the risk of possible incompatible regulation, which negatively impacts trade growth.
Concerns remain because of a few lingering geopolitical issues, but all-in-all we have hope that the prevailing indications of the world leaders will allow trade to grow.
Francesco Parisi, President, FIATA