Parliamentary group calls on Commonwealth leaders to put trade for development at the heart of CHOGM 2018 summit

03.04.2018 Lisa McAuley
Parliamentary group calls on Commonwealth leaders to put trade for development at the heart of CHOGM 2018 summit

Lisa McAuley, the CEO of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA) was delighted to be part of an Inquiry Committee of distinguished experts that has today published its Final Report examining the potential of the Commonwealth family of 53 nations to help its poorest countries and citizens to trade out of poverty, in line with the values of the Commonwealth Charter and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Inquiry Committee –– co-chaired by Lord Jeremy Purvis of the UK and Hon. Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment of Nigeria –– was established by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Trade Out of Poverty and the UK Overseas Development Institute in September last year.

The central message of the Report is to call on Commonwealth leaders to establish a road-map for a major new Commonwealth work programme on trade and investment for inclusive development at the CHOGM 2018 summit in London later this month. The Report highlights some of the big opportunities for learning and economic co-operation between Commonwealth members, who include some of the world’s largest and richest nations as well as some of the smallest and poorest.

The Inquiry Report, Our Shared Prosperous Future: an agenda for values-led trade, inclusive growth and sustainable jobs for the Commonwealth, states that:

The Inquiry Committee consists of:

Lord Jeremy Purvis of Tweed (Co-Chair)
Hon. Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment, Government of Nigeria (Co-Chair)
Mr Chi Atanga, Entrepreneur and CEO, Walls of Benin U.K
Ms Catherine Clark, Head, International Relations, Prudential plc
Ms Patricia Francis, former Executive Director, WTO-UNCTAD International Trade Centre
Ms Trudi Hartzenberg, Executive Director, Trade Law Centre, Southern Africa (tralac)
Ms Lisa McAuley, former CEO, Export Council of Australia, and Executive Director, Global Trade Professionals Alliance
Mr Steven Pope, Vice President, DHL Express Europe plc
Mr Phil Rourke, Executive Director, Centre for Trade Policy & Law, Carleton University, Ottawa
Mr Harsha Vardhana Singh, Former Executive Director, Brookings India and former Deputy Director General, WTO
Ms Angela Strachan, Independent Consultant, Business Environment Reform, Trade Facilitation and Investment Climate
Dr Dirk Willem te Velde, Head, International Economic Development, ODI

The full report, Our Shared, Prosperous Future: An agenda for values-led trade, inclusive growth and sustainable jobs for the Commonwealth, can be found at: http://tradeoutofpoverty.org