On 12 December 2017 the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) opened the WTO Business Forum by emphasizing the significance of cooperation between the WTO and business. The WTO is an organization where governments meet to discuss and negotiate trade issues and this year the Business Forum is being held alongside the WTO Ministerial Conference. Business and other stakeholders are users of the world’s trading system and the positive effects of trade agreements filter through to the economy and communities through the work of businesses.

The WTO deals with global trading rules and 98% of world trade is carried out under WTO rules. The Director General noted that the WTO delivers a service to business by providing stability and certainty. For example the financial crisis did not result in a global wave of protectionism because countries recognized that they have shared commitments under the WTO.

The WTO also delivers reforms to the trading system. In the last four years the WTO has achieved the Trade Facilitation Agreement that is estimated to boost global trade by around USD 1 trillion dollars per year. The recent expansion of the Information Technology Agreement led to the elimination of tariffs amounting to around USD 1.3 trillion. Also agricultural export subsidies have been eliminated.

At the WTO Business Forum the topics under discussion include agriculture, service, fisheries subsidies, e-commerce, investment facilitation, and measures to facilitate trade for small businesses. The WTO has contributed to the dialogue on these subjects through its engagement with business in particular through the Trade Dialogues initiative that the WTO supports jointly with the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) and the B20 (the business dialogue of the G20 countries). The initiative allows business, labor, academics and other interested parties to discuss trade issues and present recommendation.

In recent days the WTO has launched a new collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Electronic World Trade Platform. The new initiative entitled Enabling E-Commerce will enable a high-level dialogue to add depth to the debate on e-commerce and ensure that its benefits are widely available. The WTO sees e-commerce as an opportunity for smaller businesses, entrepreneurs and individual citizens.

The WTO is also developing a new portal with UNCTAD and the International Trade Centre (ITC) to consolidate information required by exporters into one platform. Exporters will therefore be able to access regulations, tariffs and other requirements online in one site.

Other initiatives have included the Small Business Champions initiative asking for proposals on raising awareness and helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to trade; and jointly with Google a video competition for small businesses enabling them to share experiences of using the internet to enable them to export globally.