International Trade Secretary and International Trade Minister
will today attend the
first Commonwealth trade ministers’ meeting - an event that will
bring together politicians, officials and policymakers from over
20 Commonwealth nations.
The meeting - the first of its kind - is jointly convened by
the Commonwealth Enterprise and
Investment Council (CWEIC) and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The 2 day event will see ministers and representatives from
across the Commonwealth consider areas where we can strengthen
collaboration by harnessing the ‘Commonwealth advantage’ to
deepen intra-Commonwealth trade and investment.
The meeting follows on from the Commonwealth Business Forum in
Malta in November 2015 and provides an opportunity to kick-start
an ambitious ‘Agenda for Growth’ ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth
Summit in the UK.
Dr Fox said:
The Commonwealth economies are wonderfully diverse, each with
their own specialisations, industries and opportunities. Our
diversity is our strength – we have much to learn from one
another, and a vast wealth of experience, knowledge and talent
to draw upon.
It is the government’s intention to make Britain a leader in
free trade, working with our friends and allies in the
Commonwealth to remove barriers and liberalise the global
trading environment. The trade ministers’ meeting is an
important step towards realising this vision and I’m looking
forward to strengthening foundations today for our trading
future.
said:
No-one can doubt trade’s positive impact on the world: helping
to eradicate poverty, spread technology, raise living standards
to unprecedented levels, and make our world safer than it could
otherwise have been.
Looking forward, Britain will lead the charge for a freer and
fairer trading system and we want our Commonwealth partners and
friends to join with us. That’s why we will use this meeting to
continue conversations around how to minimise disruption,
remove barriers and ensure a win-win approach to our future
trading relations.
The 52 member states in the Commonwealth boast a combined
population of over 2.4 billion people and, significantly, 1
billion Commonwealth citizens are aged under 25.
Latest figures show intra-Commonwealth trade has grown faster
than the global average over the past 10 years, and is projected
to be worth $1 trillion a year by 2020. And according to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), Commonwealth countries whose
imports of goods and services are likely to grow fastest over the
next 5 years are Mozambique, Bangladesh, India, Brunei, Ghana and
Sierra Leone.
