DMCC – the world’s flagship free zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – briefed a select group of trade experts on its latest Future of Trade 2024 report at an event held at the World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The briefing featured high-level officials and regulators including WTO Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
The report outlined how a new era of global regionalisation will lead businesses to restructure their supply chains amid escalating geopolitical tensions, conflicts, climate change, economic nationalism and trade protectionism. There will be opportunities to diversify export markets and sourcing networks.
DMCC recognised the role of the WTO in providing the open and stable global trading environment required to capitalise on new trade opportunities, and called on the WTO to provide leadership and innovation to meet new challenges to international trade. In particular, the rapid advances of technology such as AI and environmental goods trade to facilitate the green transition will present economic opportunities. In that regard, the WTO is needed to facilitate global consensus and standards to ensure trade resilience.
Addressing delegates, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC, said: “Since joining the WTO almost thirty years ago, the UAE's relationship has developed from one of integration to participation, and now, one of leadership and influence. Through the adoption of the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement, the WTO's framework has played a strategic role in Dubai's emergence as a global trade hub and a centre for finance, tourism and logistics, and therefore features prominently in our 2024 Future of Trade report. With over 75 per cent of the global goods trade made directly on WTO terms, the world depends on an efficient WTO to ensure a fair trade landscape, especially as businesses contend with new disruptive forces like AI and climate change. Combined with the UAE's growing Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPAs), DMCC looks forward to continuing its engagement with the WTO and supporting greater global trade facilitation.”
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the WTO, said: "The Future of Trade report rightly highlights that amid all the challenges facing global trade in the decade ahead, there are also opportunities. Trade can deliver benefits to people and places that missed out on the recent wave of globalization. It can be an even stronger force for decarbonizing our economies; and for making supply chains more diversified and hence more resilient in our increasingly shock-prone world. At the WTO, we are working and reforming to build the enabling environment for seizing these opportunities. Recent successes with multilateral agreements and decisions at our 12th and 13th Ministerial Meetings provide the underpinnings needed by members to capitalise on emerging opportunities".
Feryal Ahmadi, Chief Operating Officer, DMCC, added: “DMCC is delighted to be at the WTO in Geneva to present our Future of Trade 2024 report. During this period of profound change, it is essential that businesses, governments and regulators work together to harmonise standards and ensure innovative regulatory frameworks for today’s trade challenges. Here we believe the WTO has a key role to play in promoting and maintaining global trade stability, thereby sustaining trade resilience and economic growth in the long term."
As part of the Future of Trade’s Commodities Trade Index, Switzerland rose to third place for the first time since the index was established in 2018. Switzerland scored strongly on its locational and institutional advantages, signalling its status as one of the most important players in the global commodities trade landscape. As major trade hubs, DMCC highlighted the growing interconnectivity of Switzerland and UAE across goods and services as key for ensuring future economic growth.
The Future of Trade is the flagship thought leadership report series from DMCC on the changing nature of global trade. The report examines the impact of global economic trends, geopolitics, technology, sustainability and finance on the future of the trade landscape. The report series has been viewed and downloaded over 1.9 million times to date, underscoring DMCC's growing recognition as a leading voice on international trade.