 Good morning. Good afternoon to all of our audiences from around the world. I'm Yusuf Gamiluddin. I'm an anchorman for Bloomberg Television. And we've got a very timely and important discussion that is coming up in the pipeline. Basically, trade for tomorrow. What we've seen with the pandemic is that the differences in gaps between groups in society have grown. They are deep inequalities around that theme. The World Economic Forum just moments ago was released two papers around this one on trade and climate action. And the other one on trade and social justice. And what sort of caught my attention is the link between climate change and trade specifically. Definitely worth a closer look and a closer read. We've got the 12th WTO ministerial conference that's coming up early December, December 2021. And that's really a historic opportunity. If you reflect for a moment on the sort of recent milestones in the WTO timeline, it's a historic opportunity to bring about. It's called the Boulder approach to policy reform. It's a call to action effectively what this panel is bringing together a call to action for a new vision. And I'd like to introduce you to our distinguished panelists who are joining us today. And it includes Fethi Mina, cabinet secretary for industrialization, trade and enterprise development in Kenya. We have Matthew Layton. He's the global managing partner Clifford Chance UK and the International Business Council. Nabila Amoudi, the chief executive officer at Olean financing company. And Ankiti Bose, co-founder and chief executive officer at Zolingo. Matthew, let me kick off with you in terms of where you see the need for more development and trade and investment to try and support a global recovery. Well, many thanks, Yousef, and it's great to be on the panel today. Perhaps having collaborated with the forum on the white paper on climate trade, I can start by focusing on greening trade and investment policy. I don't feel it's an overstatement to say that we are standing at a pivotal moment as we look to rebuild the global economy post the pandemic. But I believe we also stand at a point of immense opportunity. Rightly, and as you mentioned, the world has very high expectations for COP26 next month and also the 12th WTO ministerial conference later in the year. And at the same time, many businesses are clearly sharing two priorities. First, they're all looking to implement their climate transition action plans. And that's to meet their ambitious, in many cases, net zero commitments and they're recognizing the rising expectations of all of their stakeholders in doing this. Second, they're really rethinking and looking to redesign the resilient, sustainable, and in many cases, circular supply chains that are essential for their businesses. So to that extent, there's really strong public and private alignment. And that should it should drive an intense period of collaboration and cooperation to develop the stable policy framework, which is so essentially we're going to have a sustainable and inclusive global trade and investment. From the work we did on the paper, perhaps I can just now turn to the how. Firstly, I think it's critically important that all areas of policy support decarbonization and the objectives of inclusive and sustainable trade. But trade policy is really important. It's the key mechanism for businesses to get access to the critical developing technologies. And I think there are three areas I just want to touch on quickly. First, what's absolutely clear is is the scale of investment that has to be made by businesses is huge. And so the trade policy needs to enable technologies to move the accessible across borders and for all businesses, particularly SMEs and no doubt will come back to the point on SMEs later in the discussion. So businesses are clear. They want to see tariff and non trade barriers for green technology to be reduced. And that's going to reduce the cost of investment they need to make in decarbonization. Matthew, if I can just interject, I'll get back to you in a moment. I just want to why not the conversation and get a few other points of view in here from the Minister Betty from Kenya. Where do you see perhaps an opportunity for more trade and investment in terms of crafting sort of a health component and an inclusion component? Thank you very much. And thank you for having me on the forum. Indeed, there's been quite a long debate about the overall impact of trade and particularly regional trade on populations, not just economically, but also in terms of health and well-being. There are a large number of disputes about health in the WTO's discussion. There is technical barriers to trade our committee, which really brings more attention to this matter. The WTO notes that protecting health is a dominant trade concern among members who seek to strike a balance between trade and health as they face potential economic costs and legal challenges when introducing new health measures. On the other hand, we have had great concern expressed by public health advocates about regional trade agreements and the risks that they pose to health. So we always have to balance all this. Some of it may just be concerned about freedom of trade in goods that may worsen dietary quality or the increased prices of pharmaceuticals. Or even extension of patent production protection. So in my view, we need to be able to both promote trade and at the same time ensure that the trade pays attention to matters of food security, to matters of reduction of malnutrition, as well as improving access to pharmaceuticals and protection of investment. And this is always very, very challenging balancing the interests of business and the interests of populations and public policy concerns. In my view, trade and investment can do a lot more to support health and inclusion. And it is important that public policy focuses on this core requirement to protect health and ensure inclusion. And therefore, as we balance the interests of our companies, we must do it in a manner that both promotes investment and promotes public health interest. Thank you very much. Minister, we'll of course flesh out some of the other angles to that in a moment. I want to get out to Nabil from the Olaian financing company. Just in terms of the last point the minister made around investment. I mean, what is your read on that given that the Olaian financing company is 25 companies at a minimum operating across industries from food to energy services. And again, you cast also global net terms of some of your other priorities. Just run me through your initial thoughts. Well, thank you for having us. And thank you for letting me join this great panel. I think one of the points that I came across from the previous speakers is the complexity of the world that we live in. And that complexity is not simply now in the government sphere, but has become now a complex world for the private sector as well. ESG concerns stakeholder capitalism. You can kind of use whatever physiology it wants. But businesses are being asked to do a lot more than they have been in the past. So you're no longer looking purely at the bottom line. And in our group, of course, early on, and probably one of the first companies here in the kingdom, we started looking at our sustainability strategy at our operating company levels, which you mentioned are over 25 companies here in the kingdom and the region, but also in our global investments across the world. And I think just from a trade perspective, having investments going across border enhances the ability of various countries to try to solve these global issues that we're all facing, be it the COVID-19, be it the climate change issues. And I think fostering that kind of cooperation through businesses, we're seeing that happening more and more effectively. You can go back and look a couple of years ago, people weren't even talking about stakeholder capitalism. And then you have Larry Fink coming out and his famous letter kind of shifting the conversation with private sector really driving that. So I think that interaction and complexity is important that the private sector acknowledges and takes an adheres to and frankly, our employees are required of us now, as well as our shareholders. And that now complexity in the private sector is mimicking what we're seeing or we've seen for forever. And I used to be in the government sector, the government sector as well. So complexity is the name of the game and solving these big issues need the private and the public sector to work together. And certainly investment across borders is key for all of us to keep our eye on. I want to also get to Ankiti, just in terms of how businesses can help support inclusion through their supply chains. I mean, it's a fascinating backstory in terms of the reach that Zilingo has through key points in the supply chain. What exactly is being done on that front? Yusuf, I think the key thing for businesses as they come out of the pandemic and there is a huge shift in the conversation towards ESG, is to see if ESG can be tied closely to profitability. So it's not just about ESG comes to the cost of water line. Can those two things move together very nicely? And I think that becomes very interesting and it drives the adoption of ESG a lot faster. And for that, both policy and technology have to go together hand in hand. But in the textile and apparel supply chain, which contributes to almost 3% of global GDP, we've already started seeing that. And of course, we could dive into that a little bit later, but how profitability can be an additional sort of tool in the arsenal of driving ESG adoption and not just a moral lens. What about maybe taking the lead on that front, Ankiti? Couldn't you say, you know, here are the goalposts for our clients to make sure that we as an umbrella organization, obviously overseeing this particular system, you know, is our in compliance with these new ideas? Absolutely, absolutely. So some of the biggest brands and large e-commerce companies that work with us work backwards from those goals to say that folks, if you can improve our gross margins with technology by 10 to 15%, we are happy to plow that back into sustainable fabrics, making sure we only work with carbon neutral factories, making sure that labor and environmental laws are followed at every step of the way the middlemen are removed and value is added properly. It's just so much of a more effective way to do it when policy and technology can help businesses drive that because we understand that coming out of a pandemic, the economic stress is quite a bit. So trying those two things together can be really effective. Very possible, of course. Matthew, I want to circle back to you just in terms of the prep work that's being done to articulate a vision for the WTO deliberations later on this year. You talked a little bit about small and medium sized enterprises. What would be the top action that you'd say needs to be taken to deliver better trade and build on some of the themes you've outlined? Well, I think, I think, firstly, just picking up on the points that Antiquan Nabil have made is looking to try and take out some of the complexity from the regulation. So anything that can be done, complexity just adds cost and burden to businesses. So the more that can be done through seeing harmonisation of regulation standards, et cetera, absolutely critical. Secondly, I think the big progress could be made around widening e-commerce trade. E-commerce is so important for small businesses to access new markets and international markets. So that would be the second one that I'd really highlight, I think, Yusef, as an important point there. Minister, what would you say is the top action that could be used to coordinate more effectively between trade partners and maybe make a meaningful change on a policy front for the WTO? Thank you very much. The WTO is a strong and powerful organisation and it is an embodiment of our desire for greater trade, more predictable trade, rule-based trade, but also a fair trade that recognises the challenges of different countries. Now, when we face pandemics, such as what we faced with COVID and also changes in policies and politics in different countries, there can be a departure from actually free trade. We've seen that, for instance, with the conversations around vaccines, and therefore we need to re-energise the WTO to make it and to promote respect for its principles. But at the same time, those principles need to recognise the challenges that especially poor countries continue to face in accessing global trade and ensure that the rules are not only in favour of multinationals, but recognise the challenges that a lot of poor countries still face in integrating globally. I mean, it's a sensitive issue, isn't it? Nabil, just in terms of your experience from Saudi Arabia, again, a country that's undergone massive changes to try and embrace global capital, I'm wondering how you would characterise that evolution and whether it's now easier to trade, to do business with global partners than it has been maybe before 2015-2016? Yeah, great question. I mean, I think, yes, is the quick answer. I think complexity of the legal systems and the structures and the governance of the Kingdom has certainly improved markedly in the last four to five years. And we've seen this as a company that's been in business in the Kingdom for the last 75 years. And that has spurred a lot more investment in the Kingdom from foreign direct investment, especially through the stock exchange. And I think that's important that that kind of reforms continue. In fact, you even saw some of the discussion that we just had on the WTO. The Kingdom came out in the presidency of the G20, supportive of multilateralism, supportive of big initiatives on combating climate change as well. I think you're seeing a change. I think you are seeing a change in how the Kingdom is operating locally, but operating on the international stage as well. And that takes an adjustment from the private sector. I mean, like I said, we've been here 75 years and how we work for the next 75 years is going to be radically different than the past 75 years. Globally, obviously, we want to see less barriers. We want to see more stable trade between countries and more predictability in the rules-based environment that we live in and less volatility if I could use that word and how things are managed. Volatility is not a friend of long-term investments, the cross-borders. Ankitia, how do you see it from your perspective in terms of what the WTO can do? I mean, it's probably not a regular conversation that happens in terms of what kind of learnings do you take from the kind of businesses like yours and apply it to policy. And there's probably a very important gap there to fill by institutions like the World Economic Forum and by a few other players as well. If you could sit in the room now with some of the top policy minds at the WTO, what would you say? What would you ask them to do? That's a great question, Yusuf. I think one thing that enables trade to happen very quickly with more digitization is interoperability of systems. And that includes interoperability of payment systems, of quality standards, of the way that goods move between one country and another. And in several supply chains like the textile supply chain, it moves across several borders for the same product. So perhaps it would start with interoperability of trade and any policy that would help technology companies to take the digitization to as upstream as possible. What we see as a B2B enabler of businesses is that businesses want traceability, they want to do the right thing. The question is how? And when it comes to companies like us to solve for the how, we need more technology and of course we need more favorable policy between countries. So I think just interoperability of payment structures and quality and movement of goods takes us further to do that, which leads to more traceability, which leads to more sustainability in the long run. I just reminded to our global audience who are watching us that we are going to get to some of the questions been really busy in the chat. So please keep it coming in. We still have about five to six minutes of sort of time for me and then we'll open it up to the floor. So I'm going to return back to Matthew just in terms of the recent tensions between China and the United States that still continue to be at the forefront of much of global capital really and global markets. There was a hope, there was an understanding, a belief maybe that things are going to get better in terms of those tensions with the new administration in the United States under Joe Biden. But clearly that hasn't happened. I'm wondering what you're hearing from clients and how that could affect what the WTO does or does not agree on come December. Yeah, I think there was that hope. However, I think we have to be realistic. There's a lot of focus on domestic politics, domestic policy in the post pandemic environment. So there hasn't been the positive shift that people had been hoping for. But I think in the longer term, I think people still remain very positive. The need and also as we've talked about the very wide engagement from stakeholders, employees and also the public at large to see action on issues like health and climate change, etc. We'll bring people to the table. And that's got to be good for businesses in those countries as well. So ultimately, I think there's still from certainly our clients a high expectation that whilst we may be in a period where tensions remain quite high, that ultimately we'll see them coming together for real progress on some of the key issues that we've been talking about today. Minister Betty, in terms of how you look at this, because at the end of the day, you've got this trade governance system that is struggling to adapt. I mean, that's not sugar coated. It is what it is. This is an antiquated institution. The world changed so rapidly. The two behemoths of political powers are at odds. Is it still fit for purpose, the WTO? Well, thank you very much. It is a tough question. But sometimes we have to ask ourselves, do we have a choice? We need to make a global trade work better because it can be a powerful tool for development and for poverty reduction. But it won't happen automatically and not all poor people can connect as quickly as we would want. Technology is helping a lot. E-commerce is helping a lot. But we need to work on both systems. So we do need to make the WTO more amenable for the realities we find ourselves in. And for those of us in countries like Africa, we're also investing a lot in regional trade. So we recognise that we would like to trade as much as possible with every corner of the world. And technology is making that happen. But we also need to trade better with our neighbours. And therefore, using regional trading blocks like the East African community, the Africa continental free trade area, or commissar as springboards for attracting investment in our regions, but also engagements globally is the tools that we need to work on. So we need to address the challenges that the WTO has had and ensure that we build on our own local dynamics and ensure that investors are able, and first of all, are able to invest in all countries. But more importantly, the rules of the game are not steeped against populations, especially in poor countries. I mean, it's a very, very potent point that you make around regional trade blocks, and that is perhaps the chance to sort of reinvigorate some of these parts of the global trading system. You know, Nabil, could you weigh in on this for us, maybe from a perspective in the Middle East, because there were as well these ambitions to create closer trade ties, less tariff barriers. Is this an opportunity for the Middle East to step in and perhaps to show how it's done, even though their track record has not been the strongest, but you know, clearly that doesn't necessarily mean that they can't do it if they don't put their minds to it. Yeah, great question. I mean, I think the quick answer is yes, there's more opportunities there that are not being taken advantage of. And the GCC region certainly is a region that could be trading with global partners on a much more accelerated basis than is currently the case. And we see a disparity, frankly, between the countries on how that happens. But as a block, I think there is more coordination now than there has been in the past. But it's certainly something that needs to continue. Your neighborhood matter is obviously in where you're physically and geographically situated that provides opportunity, natural opportunities for trade to flourish. And I think that's certainly not an option that I think the governments are looking at. And what somebody else mentioned, I believe, is also obviously electronic commerce, ensuring that, you know, bites are translated into bricks effectively delivering goods is something that still has not really been very conducive in the region. It's getting better, but certainly the blocks part of it hasn't really reached the point where you can ensure with a click that you get your Nike shoes in two days. That still hasn't happened in the region. I think more of that will happen. But that's more about the bricks as opposed to the bites and the regulations down points as well. Yeah, I mean, I'll say I'll say this much. They've introduced overnight shipping here in Dubai for some of the bigger stores and it's incredible. I thought it would never come to this part of the world. And now you just even have same day, same day delivery, which is a whole different world. I know in the U.S. and the U.K. it's been around for ages, but anyway, that sort of tells the tale of shifting times. And Kiti, just in terms of the point of view that you bring to this discussion and just being based, of course, predominantly in Asia, you're dealing with a lot of suppliers from across borders. Do you see friction there? Where is the opportunity? Where's something that can be improved on? Actually, something that you mentioned a little bit before, especially on fiction with China has been an interesting tailwind for some of the countries that we work in. We are primarily in ASEAN. We're headquartered in Singapore. And I'm merely making an observation, but we've seen a massive growth in sourcing, especially digitized fully transparent sourcing with all the data from countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh, Saudi, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Pekka over the last five years. And in the last two years, it's actually only accelerated. So after the COVID slump, there have been some major, major tailwinds for the industry. And of course, right now we're in the middle of a little bit of an up and down in Vietnam from a trading and supply chain standpoint. And it has been a bizarre year with so many container costs going up and shipping problems and the Suez Canal and raw material prices and so on. But so far it seems like ASEAN and South Asia are very resilient options for several supply chains and especially many that support e-commerce consumption across the region and ties with Middle East, Europe, UK and the US have only strengthened as far as exports from this region are concerned. So it's a very interesting time to be faced in Singapore right now. I have to say like 30 minutes to cover all this ground. I mean, it's as good as our morning show on Bloomberg TV, which I host every morning from 8 to 9. I do urge you to watch if you don't already have it in your regular schedule. But this has been packed with insight. And we're still going to open it up now to questions. We've gotten a lot of them. The first one to Matthew. Specifically, how can trade rules help climate action? Zero tariffs on green bonds? Question mark. I mean, I think looking at tariffs that can incentivize investment, whether that's tariffs on carbon friendly goods, whether it's on green bonds, clearly financing is a key issue there. The other area that I just touched on, what I mentioned is some of the standardization, both in terms of reporting but also on goods, again, promoting and lowering the cost of green goods, green technologies. So I think there's a lot that can be done with relatively small steps. The other point I'm just coming back to the conversation we're just having about the role of the WTO, but I think Nabil captured this. Really important that we don't just look to the WTO. There's lots that can be done on a unilateral and a plurilateral basis, regional deals. So a lot of progress can be done there, but it takes leadership and again, lots of cooperation between the public and the private sector as well. Fantastic. All right. The second question here, this is open to the panel. So if you feel strongly about it, just go ahead and answer. If governments can't agree on linking trade, investment and sustainability, can business push harder? I'll take a shot at that. I think the answer is yes. I mean, I think you're seeing that anyway, right? I think that's almost the rear view here in some ways where you're seeing a lot more pressure from big entities from various stakeholders just not to repeat myself, that are pushing to try to further the green agenda, the SG issues and address all these global issues. So I think the answer is obviously yes. Anybody else like to add to that, Yusuf? I think definitely businesses can. A lot of businesses are now run by people that have understood, like myself, that we will all be alive to live through the consequences of lack of action on climate change or in action on inclusion. So, you know, whether or not there is enough help possible, of course, we will continue to ask for more help from both policy and other, you know, other parts, other stakeholders. But there is no option for a generation but to act on it. So the answer is a strong yes. Yeah, maybe just one other point from me, Yusuf, which is just, you know, again, there's really good action being taken amongst businesses in terms of reporting and transparency. So the work that the IBC and the Forum have done around the stakeholder capitalism metrics to get some standardisation in the approach of all of these things, that's critically important because transparency is key here. Minister? Yes, I agreed. And I've said we've seen a lot of changes driven by consumer demand, which changes how business is running. So in fact, sometimes you find that governments are racing up to catch up with some of the actions of business. It's also driving policy quite a bit. I think the point to make is that this is a movement we've seen with multinationals a lot, but that also sends examples to SMEs. And I think the more consumers make these demands, I think we can expect some changes from policy makers as well. Excellent. Another question coming through. Is it possible to distinguish good subsidies so health environment, at least according to this particular comment from, quote, bad protectionist ones? Is that to me or anybody or any of us? That's to anybody, but if you'd like to take shot. Yeah, one of the things and I mentioned that in my comments is a lot of the rules around trade have clearly been shaped by businesses and some of those rules can confer benefits to particular businesses can also act and appear very, very protectionist. And I think it is a role of policy makers to unpack them. And for each rule for each move for each decision, there has to be a public policy impact assessment and a look at the varieties and the differences in countries. In the WTO, there's been a strong stakeholder, maybe strong movement from developing countries to interrogate each move from the perspective of poverty and development. And I think that must continue in large businesses and small businesses together have an opportunity to compromise on different measures and different subsidies that might be seeking or different protection that might be seeking from their government. Any other views on on this particular question? If not, I've got obviously there's a lot more to get through but unfortunately we're not going to have the time we're starting to run a little bit towards limit if governments. Let me paraphrase that. Can trade rules support inclusion and sustainability by encouraging a fairer taxes? That's a tough question. I'm not sure. I think Matthew might be more suited. That is a tough question. I'm not sure if I have a strong view on the probably answer is I think so, but I'm not sure I have more insights than that. The observation I would make here is that what we're really looking at is promoting growth and opportunity through both sustainable investment and inclusive investment. So I would hope the answer is that we can find the way. It's not some of these issues are highly complex, but I think we can find a way to come up with the policies and the structures that do promote that, but it needs again, it needs real engagement. Maybe one other point just to make is just which I think these these two the last two questions are probably linked in some ways is is we can't look at this just through the prism of the advanced countries. And, you know, for example, the 100 billion commitment in the Paris agreement is something that really is essential if we're going to see development and progress right across the across the globe. So recognizing that commitment recognizing that, you know, for example, I think this was a point that President von der Leyen made in her state of the Union speech last week was, you know, it's really important that the advanced nations step up and honor that that that commitment people going to see this have have truly global impact. Yeah, and the tricky part is that what's trying to be done is to align some of the trade action with the COP26 outcomes, which is, yeah, I mean, that's quite the quest. In terms of Q&A, that's all the time we have unfortunately. But what I'd love to do now is for each of our panelists to take a minute 60 seconds is going to be a buzzer and a big red light. So after 60 seconds, that's all we've got. So just to reflect and review some of your takeaways from this session. I want to start off with that. I'm Keith, you go ahead. I think my number one reflection is that everybody from policymakers, trade organizations, governments, think tanks and businesses, everybody understands that change has to be made. And everybody understands that it's now or it's too late and everybody understands that digitization is an important lever and that which is already great because the conversation is shifted from five years ago into a much more actionable doing mode. So as businesses, I think the key takeaway for me or my entire community of startup, technology enthusiasts and founders is that raise your hand, do something, ask for help, you'll probably get it now way more easily than before. And there is just active investment happening here. So it's actually very encouraging. Very inspirational. Nabil? I guess the one takeaway for me is something I already stated, but it's that stability for the rules and what Matthew focused on as well is that the coordination between the various standards is important for private sector to be able to allocate capital on a long term basis in the right way. And without that kind of stability and uniformity, you get capital that is just not as confident in investing and the right sectors and over the long term. And that's not an easy equation of balance, but since the world is changing so quickly, but that's something that we need to somehow strike the right balance for. Thank you very much, Minister Betty. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think my key takeaway for this is that we need to keep working together. And we need to keep building the institutions that bring us together because we're in this now, we're not an island, no countries, an island, no community is an island and therefore, the firing or making decisions that confer benefits to one set of countries is not sustainable in the, you know, in the long run and you have to invest in other mechanisms to secure, you know, to secure yourself. So the best thing is to ensure that the rules work must work for all if we're going to be safe. Thank you. And Matthew. Yeah, finally just building on some of those themes, but I think, you know, firstly, there is huge alignment at this point in time. So we should seize this opportunity. Secondly, you know, I think we need to take some quick wins. Some of these issues are really complex, but actually moving forward with some of the quick wins that have been identified in removing tariff barriers, etc. which would not be controversial, but those would give a really powerful signal that, you know, governments and businesses and policymakers can really work together to make some concrete steps on this journey and it is a journey. So banking some of those quick wins would be really important, I think. That's a great note to wrap up on. There's still plenty more though to discuss beyond this panel. I'm just looking here at all the links and all the additional tangents that our global audience can of course explore. I'd like to thank all of you, the wonderful panelists for all the insight and reflection. We had on the panel, of course, Minister Betty Minor, Cabinet Secretary for Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development of Kenya. Matthew Layton, Global Managing Partner, Clifford Chance, UK and also member of the International Business Council. Nabila Amoudi, Chief Executive Officer at the Olaian Financing Company and Ankita Bose, Co-Founder and Chief Executive at Zalinga. I'll remember you can continue the discussions on top link and we do ask you to share maybe some of your strong views that you've shared today on social media. Get on there on Twitter, on Instagram, on LinkedIn, whatever you use and whatever floats your boat. Go ahead and share that and make sure you have the right handles in there as well. And for me, you know, on a personal note, thank you again not just to the panel, but to everybody who took the time out of the day to watch this very important conversation. And I wish you all the best for the day ahead. Thank you.