The group of 20 major economies should work to provide trillions of dollars in trade financing for developing countries to ensure the global economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior World Trade Organization (WTO) official said on Saturday (21.11.2020).
La Press release points out that the Deputy Director-General of the WTO, Alan Wolff, told G20 leaders that It was essential to use trade to help support the economy, Facilitate trade in essential medical supplies y reform the institutional framework for global trade.
"When crops are not moving and factories are idle across the developing world, global recovery will be delayed for everyone," Wolff told the leaders.A trade finance initiative should be considered an essential part to improve the prospects for economic recovery."
This year's World Economic Forum said the COVID-19 pandemic was exacerbating a gap in global trade finance here that already stood at $1,5 trillion before the crisis began, with more than 50% of requests for trade finance support rejected.
Lack of access to trade finance hits least developed countries the hardest, as they already suffer from the high cost of financial transactions.
Wolff said close cooperation between international financial institutions, the WTO and major commercial banks would be needed to unlock trillions of dollars in the required financing.
G20 leaders will underline their commitment to the multilateral trading system in a joint statement to be published on Sunday, a draft of the communiqué showed.
Wolff urged G20 leaders to engage seriously in a “major institutional reform effort” and restore the WTO’s deliberative and negotiating functions. The 12th WTO Ministerial Conference next year will be an important milestone in this regard.
The WTO official also called for new measures to speed up the delivery of essential medical products to where they are needed, including updates to existing agreements to ensure duty-free global trade in pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.
At the end of his speech to the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies, Wolff said that Border barriers and the use of export restrictions must be reduced, providing much greater transparency and Accelerating improvements in trade facilitation efforts, particularly for poorer countries.
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