ICC urges G20 to keep markets open
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has called upon the G8 and G20 leaders meeting in Toronto on Saturday to take action in three areas: international trade and investment, climate change and energy, and intellectual property and innovation.
The ICC recommendations include prioritising the restoration of trade finance levels, resisting protectionism, and concluding the Doha trade negotiations by the year-end.
The chamber also suggested a list of specific steps to be taken for effective action on climate change, and uphold commitments to curb counterfeiting and piracy, according to a statement.
ICC, which represents companies from all sectors in more than 120 countries, regularly provides global business views to the G8 and G20.
It cautioned the leaders that lurching into economic nationalism would seriously dislocate commercial activity and have far-reaching negative effects across supply chains worldwide.
World trade, which contracted by 12.2 percent in 2009, is forecast to rebound by 9.5 percent in 2010 if oil prices, major currencies and financial markets remain relatively stable, the ICC statement said.
“The multilateral trading system has again proven its worth during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s,” said ICC Chairman Victor K Fung. “But we call upon the world leaders to avoid protectionist measures that would be detrimental to the still fragile economic recovery.”
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