Services is future of global trade, says Okonjo-Iweala
Omeiza Bilal
The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has identified services as the future of global trade.
In a message at the launch of the WTO Annual Report 2024, Okonjo-Iweala noted that despite geopolitical tension, climate crisis and protectionism, global trade continues to rise presenting exciting opportunities for growth and job creation.
She said, “The data suggest that after years of talk of decoupling, trade may be starting to fragment along geopolitical lines. And yet within these challenges there are exciting opportunities.
“Opportunities to harness digitalization to spur growth and job creation, opportunities to use trade to enhance global food security and accelerate the push towards net-zero emissions, opportunities to spread the benefits of trade to more people and countries.”
According to the report, the value of total goods and commercial services trade in 2023 stood at a record high of $30.4 trillion.
In the 2023 report, the global trade body stated that the volumes of merchandise trade were 6 per cent above their pre-pandemic peak in 2019, while the value of commercial services trade was up 21 per cent between 2019 and 2023 – and by more than 50 per cent for trade in digitally-delivered services.
“In 2023 – the main period covered by this report – merchandise trade volumes fell by 1.2 per cent after growing 3.0 per cent the year before, as many countries dealt with the lingering effects of inflation and high energy prices. But this decline was partially offset by strong growth in services trade, which increased by 9 per cent in value terms, boosted in particular by the post-pandemic surge in tourism,” the report stated.
The WTO Director General averred that the UN body has a vital role to play in enabling members to seize these opportunities – and in doing so, to make the global economy more inclusive, more sustainable and more resilient.
The WTO has continued to enable members to use trade as a means to improve living standards, create better jobs and promote sustainable development, in keeping with the mission articulated in the preamble to the Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO.
Since 1995, global trade has expanded nearly five-fold in value terms, driving faster growth in developing and developed economies, and helping lift over 1.5 billion people out of extreme poverty.
