THE INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE

A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Two themes stand out in this edition of IIT’s regular newsletter: the importance of data and transparency to good policy-making and policy-implementation, and the issue of resilience in global trade.

In the first article Industry Professor Jane Drake-Brockman focuses on the longstanding issue of inadequate measurement of Australian services trade. She highlights recent successful efforts by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to improve their data in this area, and draws out the implications of what this new data tells us about Australian services trade.

Newly appointed Visiting Fellow Ken Ash argues that transparency is the bedrock of evidence-based policy analysis and is crucial for the smooth functioning of the multilateral system. He notes that fulfilment of notification commitments at the WTO is woefully low, and argues that this must be significantly improved in principle, but all the more urgently in a post-COVID environment where government support to reboot national economies will continue to grow.

Regarding resilience IIT is delighted to support an APEC Global Supply Chains Resiliency Survey initiative led by the Global Trade Professionals Alliance. We want to hear from businesses impacted by the current crisis. The aim is to identify levels of disruption and adaptability across supply chains that will feed into government policy targeted at building more resilient supply chains.

Which brings us to IIT’s participation in the Adaptive Trade Leadership programme. Follow the link to find out more about this exciting programme being delivered for mid-senior business leaders, with the goal of equipping them with specialized trade knowledge and key skills for grappling with complexity and increasing resilience in the face of dynamic change.

Lastly, I highlight our forthcoming annual PhD Workshop and conference on trade and investment in services, between 4 and 13 November 2020, where leading services experts from across the globe will engage participants on the impact of "servicification" on trade.

Professor Peter Draper

POLICY AND ENGAGEMENT

Measurement of trade in services is notoriously difficult. The official statistics on imports and exports contained in the Balance of Payments (BOP) are well known, for example, as measuring poorly at best only three of the four modes of international supply of services. As defined in the WTO, the four modes of trading services are through cross-border supply such as on-line through the internet, consumption abroad such as tourism, commercial presence of an enterprise such as establishing an affiliate in a foreign country to serve the local market, and individuals such as consultants travelling temporarily to a foreign country to provide services.

By Jane Drake-Brockman, Industry Professor, Institute for International Trade & Founder, Australian Services Roundtable

NEW DATA LINKS OUTWARD INVESTMENT IN SERVICES TO AUSTRALIA’S SERVICES EXPORT PERFORMANCE

MANAGING THE RISKS OF RISING GOVERNMENT SUPPORT: A CASE FOR POLICY TRANSPARENCY

Governments generally support the smooth functioning of their domestic economies, through maintaining systems of good governance and the rule of law and ensuring a coherent macroeconomic and structural policy environment. Extraordinary support is sometimes also warranted, as is the case today to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19. Few would dispute that these are essential roles for governments. But care needs to be taken that well-intentioned support measures do not become entrenched, ineffective and wasteful subsidies. This is a very real risk.

By Ken Ash, Senior Visiting Fellow, Institute for International Trade & Former OECD Director of Trade and Agriculture

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

HAS COVID-19 SLAMMED YOUR BUSINESS?

According to a recent study, 94% of companies are seeing supply chain disruptions from COVID-19 and 75% have felt negative or strongly negative impacts on their business and 55% of companies plan to or have already downgraded their growth outlooks as a result.

Resilience and redundancy must be rebuilt into global supply chains. This may be difficult, time-consuming and introduce additional costs, but the reward and benefit of more robust design and disaster-proof distribution systems will ultimately be worth it.

By taking 15 minutes of your time to complete the APEC Global Supply Chains Resiliency Survey, you will help us to identify levels of disruption and adaptability of your supply chains in order for government to help build more resilient supply chains.

COMPLETE THE SURVEY HERE

Building Resilient Teams for International Trade

This world-class collaboration between the Institute for International Trade, Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA) and The University of Sussex (UoS) is designed to equip mid-senior business leaders with a strong foundation in the dynamics of complexity and leadership, as well as the trade knowledge and key skills required to transform their leadership effectiveness, problem solving skills, and ability to respond strategically to trade issues.

LEARN MORE OR REGISTER FOR OUR NEXT PROGRAM!

Interested in a Career Where You Can Make a Difference?

“Global trade brings to mind images of sophisticated container ports, bustling rail hubs, modern superhighways, broadband internet connections, and complex trade agreements. But trade is equally, if not more, important for the almost one billion poor people living on less than $1.25 a day, who struggle to connect themselves to trade opportunities.” ~World Bank

Enrol in one of our post graduate programs today and join thousands of trade and development specialists in the fight against poverty.

FIND OUT MORE OR APPLY TO STUDY WITH US NOW!

EVENTS

The University of Adelaide's Institute for international Trade and the University of International Business and Economics' China Institute for WTO Studies, invite you to join us for the TIISA 2020 Annual Conference and PhD Workshop on trade and investment in services between 4 and 13 November 2020.

Join leading services experts from across the globe and learn about the impact of "servicification" in one of our face-to-face or online sessions.

These events are supported by the Jean Monnet Trade and Investment in Services Associates (TIISA) Network.

LEARN MORE OR REGISTER TO ATTEND A SESSION HERE

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