Facilitating trade by enhancing policy, strengthening customs and improving international negotiating skills.
International trade and investment drive economic growth, increase welfare and reduce poverty. From the mid-1980s to 2015, international trade grew by over 7% a year – twice the rate of GDP.
That growth was based not only on a wider acceptance of free market attitudes and falling trade barriers but also on reduced transport costs, geopolitical changes and advances in technology and communications.
Through that period our specialist teams helped over 60 governments address international trade challenges, rationalise their trade and investment policy, support trade negotiations and stimulate competitive export industry.
Now the world is changing again.
The Doha round has all but been abandoned. Trade in services is in ascendency. There are new attitudes to globalisation, national interests and protectionism. Supply chains have become internationalised through mergers and acquisitions, and there is a plethora of new bi-lateral, multilateral and regional trade agreements creating uncertainty and adding complexity and opaqueness to international transactions.
We help governments and businesses turn these challenges into opportunities.
We are helping governments ensure their regulatory frameworks keep pace with these changes so minimising trade distortions, tackling unfair trade practices and ensuring their domestic businesses are competing on level playing fields.
We are helping governments across the world to:
Our experience is extensive and diverse. We have:
Foreign sales are a sine qua non for major business growth but trade issues for businesses can be every bit as complex as those of sovereign governments. Exporters need to identify, assess and enter export markets, find reliable partners and ensure that their overseas investments face minimal risks.
Our successes are legion. We’ve helped Cypriot exporters enter French textile markets, Mauritian exporters enter the Arabian Gulf markets, Caribbean exporters enter the USA market, American companies enter African markets and British companies enter the Gulf States.