Intra-Commonwealth trade can reach $700b by 2020

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland yesterday underscored the need for further promoting trade within member states, saying that the volume can be enhanced to $700 billion by 2020.

“We projected (this) during the global financial crisis a decade ago…our vision is building on Commonwealth advantage to increase intra-commonwealth trade to $2 trillion by 2030 and expand investment within Commonwealth,” she said.

Scotland was presenting a lecture on “Commonwealth Advantage: Progress and Potential” organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) in Dhaka.

She urged liberalising trade within member countries which would boost economic development.

“If red-tapism and paperwork can be reduced by 10 percent, merchandise exports among member countries can be raised by 5 percent…amid growing trend of trade protectionism in the world, member countries can reap huge benefit through common trade facilitation system.”

“And that is why Commonwealth strongly backs the multi-lateral trade system,” she said adding that member countries enjoy 19 percent higher cost advantage in trading within Commonwealth countries.

Scotland did not say anything about the Rohingya issue.

When asked, she said the Rohingya issue was an important issue for the Commonwealth and appreciated Bangladesh for sheltering and providing humanitarian support to a large number of Rohingyas.

Scotland arrived in Dhaka yesterday on a three-day visit.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam and BIISS Director General Maj Gen AKM Abdur Rahman also spoke at the seminar moderated by BIISS Chairman Munshi Faiz Ahmad.

Ali as chief guest said the Commonwealth advantages and potentials have to be exploited through a “reformed and revitalised” organisation. “We're thinking aloud of a Commonwealth of tomorrow, a reformed and re-launched Commonwealth.”

He said the Commonwealth's present state and the context of Brexit were prompting Bangladesh to explore new possibilities and to think of ways to transform the organisation and make it more responsive to the evolving international realities.

“The world has changed, the historical context has changed, and the member states' role in, value of and expectations from the Commonwealth have also undergone evolution. But the approach, priorities and orientations of Commonwealth have not. Reform, therefore, is a must,” he said.

The Commonwealth must graduate into an organisation, prepared to meet the evolving needs of the member states through collective initiatives.

He said restructuring of the Commonwealth may include creation of new bodies and mechanisms and reorganising old ones, such as forming a Commonwealth development fund or bank.

Alam said Bangladesh, graduating into middle-income status, sees good value and use in rules-based preferential and free trading system, especially within a Commonwealth of 2.3 billion people.

To enhance trade and investment, he said, they seriously need to take forward the visa liberalisation project discussed during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta for providing smart cards or long-term multiple visa schemes for bona fide businesspeople.

“We can also think of intra Commonwealth investment under PPP (public private partnership) system with 20 percent less cost of doing business. We can radically change the conventional concept of investment and technology transfer and by introducing innovation and creative models we can go for creative value chains,” he said.