“There is a huge downside risk in today’s environment if the Doha Round were in fact not to succeed … It’s a pretty grim picture, especially against the backdrop of inflation, oil prices and global warming,” ICC’s incoming Chairman Victor Fung was quoted as saying in today’s Financial Times.

The FT article also highlighted Mr Fung’s meeting last week with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the current President of the G8, during which Mr Fung underscored his concerns about the collapse of the Doha Round and the surge in investment protectionism in developed countries.

The recent election of Mr Fung, who is also Chairman of Li & Fung, a global trade sourcing company in Hong Kong, also received considerable attention in the press in the US and Asia. The headlines touched on the need for a multilateral trade system and a rapid conclusion of the Doha Round, the meeting with Prime Minister Fukuda, and Mr Fung’s plan to promote ICC in Asia. The Chinese press also discussed the potential of arbitration in Asia and the possibility of raising Hong Kong’s status as a centre for international arbitration.

In mid-June, world business leaders issued a statement at ICC’s World Business Summit in Stockholm, calling on governments to summon the political will needed to bridge their differences and bring the Doha Round to a successful conclusion. Interviews with outgoing ICC Chairman Marcus Wallenberg, ICC Secretary General Guy Sebban and various panelists at the Summit Forum appeared on major international newswires and on Bloomberg TV. The summit also received considerable coverage in Swedish media and as far away as Qatar and China.

The Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, attended the summit, where he urged business leaders to remain optimistic that the Doha Round could be swiftly completed, and pressed them to redouble their efforts to convince government leaders to act decisively.

ICC’s outgoing Chairman, Marcus Wallenberg, was also the subject of an FT interview in the run-up to the World Business Summit, published as an article dated 30 May entitled: “Business leader hits out at protectionism.”

“Free trade is proven to increase the wealth of nations. We must be careful not to point to free trade as a bar to the development of an economy,” Mr Wallenberg said in the article.

The two recent FT articles referred to ICC as “the world’s most influential business lobby group” and “top business lobby”, as a result of the extensive advocacy work ICC does on all levels as the voice of world business.

To read the FT articles, click on:  

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2e463fd2-4159-11dd-9661-0000779fd2ac.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a884e5d0-2dd3-11dd-b92a-000077b07658.html

Leaders from the world’s richest nations will discuss the Doha Round at the upcoming G8 Summit on 7-9 July in Hokkaido Toyako, Japan. During his meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Fung delivered ICC’s annual statement to the G8, in which ICC reiterated its urgent call for reaching agreement before the year is out.

To read more about ICC’s views on the Doha Round and the ICC World Business Summit, please  click here