OPINION | World Economic Forum
� A NEW YEAR , A NEW DEAL ? As the US cans its commitment to the Trans-Pacific Partnership ( TPP ), a new deal stepped into the spotlight in Davos . Can the planned Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP ) – which currently includes ASEAN nations and their trade partners – deliver the frameworks needed for future inclusive growth in the region ?
ASEAN economic integration has already delivered significant benefits for small and medium-size enterprises , as well as encouraging a fintech revolution , according to Anthony F . Fernandes , Group Chief Executive Officer , AirAsia Bhd .
Elsewhere , questions around the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ) also loomed large .
� WHITHER THE WTO ? The week closed with the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement ( TFA ) on the verge of entry into force , with just two countries now needed to ratify in order to secure the required support . The TFA , once in play , will create binding obligations on countries to undertake customs reforms that should help to reduce trade costs and speed goods through borders .
Looking ahead , WTO members are preparing for a ministerial conference scheduled for December in Buenos Aires , Argentina , with a list of talking points that includes domestic agriculture subsidies ,
food security , harmful fisheries subsidies , and services trade and investment facilitation , as well as issues of interest for least developed countries , e-commerce and small businesses .
� GOODBYE EU , HELLO WORLD After months of speculation , UK Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled – first in London and then in Davos – a plan to extricate Britain from the EU single market , negotiate a free trade deal with the bloc , and build a global Britain .
The UK may have its work cut out , given the time it takes to hammer out trade deals , and may have to wait its turn among the 17 other countries currently negotiating with the EU , according to some experts . London will also have to rectify its arrangements at the WTO and with the 40-plus existing EU trade partners .
It will also have to renegotiate its relationship with Donald Trump in the US . And if anyone thought Brexit has made the future look uncertain , “ I think the change of administration in the US has introduced an even bigger piece of uncertainty ,” said Philip Hammond , Britain ’ s Chancellor of the Exchequer .
� INVISIBLE BORDERS In one day , more data comes off a GE Power gas turbine than a person could put on social media in a year , according to GE President and chief executive officer
Steve Bolze , who added that software had dramatically changed the way the company does business . “ The industrial internet will be two times as big as the digital internet ,” he says .
The question is how best to manage cross-border data flows – a core feature of the Fourth Industrial Revolution – at the same time as building consumer trust , protecting privacy and tackling cyber crime . “ Focus on knowledge crossing borders as the driver of new globalisation , and goods crossing of the old . There ’ s still some old globalisation , but it ’ s a different mindset , and it has many different implications for policy ,” said Richard Baldwin of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies .
� INVESTMENT REFORM When it came to the global cross-border investment regime , there was a wind of change ( or at least reform ) blowing through Davos , with discussion afoot between ministers and other stakeholders as to a new investment court proposed by the European Union and Canadian government . It would be a permanent international , multilateral body that would adjudicate disputes under future and existing investment treaties . Q
This is an edited article of a piece which first appeared on the World Economic Forum website : www . weforum . org
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