The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi-Okonjo Iweala, and the Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), John Denton, have decried the rising barriers businesses worldwide continue to face.

In a joint statement by both parties at the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, they noted that the barriers hinder businesses’ full participation in global trade.

They listed some of the barriers to include constrained access to trade finance and working capital, excessive border delays and customs inefficiencies, which undermine job creation and affect development.

Reiterating a shared commitment to harnessing the power of trade as a driver of global development, they said a well-functioning multilateral trading system is essential to enabling private sector-led growth, particularly in emerging and developing economies where local businesses depend on predictable rules, open markets and efficient trade processes to compete and thrive.

Calling on all governments and development partners to back their words with action, they urged them to reaffirm the centrality of the multilateral trading system as a foundation for global development.

“Governments must strengthen efforts to identify and address regulatory frictions that inhibit cross-border trade and associated financing, including the erosion of correspondent banking networks and the unintended impacts of financial crime compliance regimes that have led to de-risking, particularly in regions most in need of trade finance.

“We also want coordinated efforts to strengthen trade-related infrastructure, digitalisation of trade processes and targeted capacity building for MSMEs to enhance economic and supply chain resilience.”
The statement noted that as the global community focuses on strengthening economic resilience and fostering growth, enabling trade must be a central pillar of any serious strategy for mobilising private capital at scale.