Trends Transforming Trade

Earlier this month, the GTPA, represented by Lisa McAuley (CEO), Collins Rex (Asia and Africa Director) and Niels Strazdins (Europe Director), participated in the UNCTAD (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) eCommerce Week, the leading forum for Ministers, senior government officials, CEOs and other business representatives, international organizations, development banks, academics and civil society to discuss the development opportunities and challenges associated with the evolving digital economy. This year’s theme was “From Digitalization to Development”.

Having participated in previous eCommerce weeks and having presented a session at eCommerce Week Africa in November 2018, the GTPA was delighted to have the opportunity to once again present a session at eCommerce Week 2019. This session, entitled, “Making the most of the value producing opportunities inherent in becoming a digital business”, was presented in partnership with Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF).

Ms. Emmanuelle Ganne is Senior Analyst at the World Trade Organization (WTO) where she leads WTO work on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and blockchain. She is the author of a recently published book entitled "Can Blockchain Revolutionize International Trade?" and is a regular speaker at blockchain events. From 2015 to 2017, she held the position of Vice-President for Europe at the Allam Advisory Group (AAG), a team of former C-level executives and senior diplomats that specializes in helping businesses expand their operations globally. Before joining AAG, Ms. Ganne held various positions at the WTO, as Counselor to Director-General Pascal Lamy, in the Information and External Relations Division, and in the Accessions Division. Before joining the WTO in 2002, Ms. Ganne worked for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, putting in place the Stability Pact Anti-Corruption Initiative, which assisted South Eastern European states curb corruption. Ms. Ganne is a 2009 Yale World Fellow.

The GTPA would like to welcome two new members to the ITAC committee, Jim Redden and Mona Shrestha Adhikari.

Ms. Mona Shrestha Adhikari, PhD is the Executive Director of Enterprise for Management, Economic Reform & Gender Equality (EMERGE) and also works as an independent development consultant. She believes in equitable, inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development and is passionate about women’s empowerment. She has more than 25 years of experience working in the private sector, national and international non-governmental organizations and international organizations.

As part of the 2019 WTO Aid for Trade Global Review in Geneva from the 3-5 July the GTPA and the EIF are delighted to host a session on building gender based policy to drive and facilitate global trade in LDCs.

SMEs are the backbone of most economies and women business owners are also crucial to economic graowth. According to research by consultancy, McKinsey, advancing women’s equality could add $28 trillion to global GDP by 2025 – equivalent to adding a new United States and China.

Standards Australia is Australia's national standards body. We represent Australia to the ISO & IEC and to this effect remain committed to developing and maintaining standards that meet current dynamics & ensure net benefit to the Australian community.

The Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA) intends to submit a project proposal to Standards Australia for an International Participation case for Australian participation on an ISO Project Committee: PC 308 – Chain of Custody and is seeking relevant industry and stakeholder support for the proposal.

The GTPA and EIF are pleased to invite you to join us for an upcoming session as part of eCommerce Week in Geneva.

Digital transformation is about how a business embraces digital tools to streamline and improve its functionality, and how that business then more efficiently, potently and profitably interacts with its customers.

Shared Services Centres (SSC) is the entity responsible for the execution and the handling of specific operational tasks in an organization, such as accounting, HR, payroll, IT, legal, compliance, purchasing, security, and more. The SSC is often a spin-off of the corporate services to separate all operational types of tasks from the corporate headquarters. As SSCs are often cost centres, they are quite cost-sensitive also in terms of their headcount, labour costs and location criteria.

15 April– 2 June 2019

In an effort to enhance knowledge about the links between trade and gender, the UNCTAD Trade, Gender and Development Programme has developed an Online Course on Trade and Gender.

The course targets academics (from universities and research centres), policymakers and representatives of civil society in developing and transition countries involved in research, teaching, policy formulation and implementation, advocacy or field work in the area of trade and gender.

With a network of 24 bilateral and regional FTAs/Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with 36 trading partners, companies that operate in Singapore are strategically positioned to benefit from easier entry and greater access to global markets for their products and services. More importantly, companies can ride on these FTAs/EPAs to trade with and invest in other countries predictably. This is essential in today’s unpredictable environment of increasing trade tensions.

Event Details
Date : 2-3 April 2019 Time: 08.30am — 05.30pm
Venue : SBF Center Seminar Rooms (Level 6)
Dress Code: Smart Casual
Fee per pax Member: $120 (inclusive of 7% GST) / Non-Member: $250 (inclusive of GST)

Specific training and education for women business owners can increase the ability of individuals and businesses to respond to changing global market conditions and to remain competitive.

GTPA is on a mission to collaborate with existing organisations globally to support and advance the engagement of women entrepreneurs in global trade.

GTPA is delighted that today we welcome the following companies as new Foundational members to the GTPA ecosystem.

GTPA will now provide each of these new members with a pathway to certification as a Global Trade Professional (GTP), as well as giving them access to a network into the GTPA ecosystem for ongoing trade support, mentoring, and resources and tools through our alliance partners.

In advance of International Women’s Day the GTPA launched a campaign to shine a light on the women who rock international trade and over the last couple of weeks I have been privileged to receive the profiles of some truly incredible women working in trade. It was amazing to see the diversity of the different roles women play in international trade.

I havae long commented on how SMEs are the backbone of most economies and women business owners are also crucial to economic growth. According to research by consultancy, McKinsey, advancing women’s equality could add $28 trillion to global GDP by 2025 – equivalent to adding a new United States and China.

As I am currently in Santiago, Chile to attend APEC related meetings on empowering Women in Trade, I congratulate the Chilean government for prioritising this issue as part of APEC 2019 and I was privileged to attend a fantastic Capacity Building Workshop on Women and Trade coordinated by Canada, Chile and New Zealand, which discussed some of the policy priorities in this area.

Over the past few weeks I’ve undertaken a whistle-stop tour of Asia-Pacific, working on the GTPA’s three-year Australian Aid-funded programme to establish support services for small businesses in developing countries. I have visited Samoa, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh (the countries where the programme will be implemented).

While undertaking a range of meetings with both the public and private sectors, I was also fortunate to catch up with some of the women who were part of the Australia Awards: Women Trading Globally programme. Our CEO, Lisa McAuley, and I initiated this programme back in 2017, and I had the rare privilege of training and guiding the women through three separate courses in 2017 and 2018.

Ms. Anoush der Boghossian was appointed the WTO's first focal point on trade and gender by Director-General Roberto Azevêdo in 2017. Anoush works as part of the Aid for Trade Unit of the WTO's Development Division and is a senior member of the team.

Prior to joining the Development Division in 2016, Ms. der Boghossian worked in the Information and External Relations Division (IERD) of the WTO. She worked as the French Language Spokesperson of the WTO and she was appointed as the press officer to the former Director-General Pascal Lamy. She also served the WTO as the WTO NGO Liaison Officer and Social Media Manager. Anoush managed the WTO Public Forum and the Organization's social media operations between 2013-16.

Anoush began her career at the WTO in 2006 after acquiring 10 years of professional experience in the private sector, in Brussels, working on EU policies, as a public relations specialist.

Among her educational achievements, she holds a Masters in European and International Law and a Masters in communications.

Mrs. Damchae Dem ventured into the world of business in the early sixties making homemade potato chips, which she sold in her neighborhood. Later in the nineties, she founded her company Pelden Enterprise Limited in 2006 and became a pioneer in steel manufacturing in the country.

She also pioneered Bhutan Business Solution (BBS) in Bhutan, a unique project where more than 100 youth were trained and employed under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of Pelden Enterprise Limited. The project beneficiaries are currently self-employed and successfully managing the company.

In advance of International Women’s Day on the 8th March, the GTPA is pleased to promote our campaign to shine a light on the women who rock international trade. Today we will support four ladies from the UK Trade Policy Observatory.

Mrs. Nasreen Fatema Awal is the Vice Chairperson of Multimode Group and she is a noted businesswoman, entrepreneur and philanthropist from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her business interests include agriculture, insurance, banks, hospitality, telecommunications, IT, plastic manufacturing, recycling and consumer goods distribution.

Jenny recently joined Hort Innovation as the Trade Manager and works across a range of export-focused industries, including fruits, vegetables and nuts. Jenny also plays an active role in the development of concepts for the Asian Markets Fund in Hort Frontiers. Prior to this, Jenny was a Senior Trade Advisor at the Australian Trade & Investment Commission (Austrade) and was based in Cairns, Perth and Canberra throughout her time in this role.

Dr. Rebecca Harding is an independent economist specialising in trade and trade finance and is CEO of Coriolis Technologies, providing data as a service to the trade finance and banking sectors. She frequently appears on The Ian King Show, Sky News, BBC World and BBC Radio 5 live, Newsnight and Radio 4. She is frequently cited in the Broadsheet press, including recent articles in the Financial Times, Telegraph and CityAM. She advises the Council of the Society of Professional Economists and until February 2017 was the Chief Economist of the British Bankers’ Association.

The GTPA is delighted to announce on behalf of the GTPA the following new members to the global International and Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) in 2019: Richard Burge from the United Kingdom, Sir Al-Nashir Jamal from Canada and Francis Wong OAM from Australia and Brunei.

The Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA) and our affiliate professional services arm, GTPServices, have had an outstanding first year since our launch at the periphery of the WTO Ministerial in Buenos Aires last December. We have been privileged to attract world-class contributors and community members from around the globe, and to be invited to contribute on a variety of fronts – training and certification, program development, policy, advisory and research among others – across four continents.

The Global Trade Accelerator Program (GTA) is a virtual program enabling Victoria-based exporters and trade professionals to gain market research advice from teams of international university students. The GTPA is pleased to support Practera in the delivery of this brand new initiative for Victorian exporters in 2019.

This unique program is designed to help domestic and international students build real work skills as they help local Victorian exporters research foreign markets and even better there is absolutely no cost to participate as a business!

Join MarketsandMarkets Industry 4.0 Conference: Cybersecurity & Industrial Internet of Things at Chicago, USA to address the recent case studies, roundtable discussions and much more about the need, integration, challenges in space of cybersecurity and industrial automation.

Come & network with your peers to learn from leading experts about cybersecurity and IIOT solutions to make manufacturing smarter. Gain support & access to business, hear about large- & small-scale 4.0 case studies!

Philippa is an innovative and commercially savvy senior executive with demonstrated high-level leadership in Australia and overseas in public policy and governance, international trade, diplomatic relations and business strategy. She has significant experience in developing trade promotion strategies to assist businesses, including start-ups, as they develop international markets across multiple industries as well as extensive experience in working across cultures, leading and developing diverse teams both onshore and offshore. As a specialist in communications and client engagement, economic development and international trade, she is passionate about bringing prosperity to business via deep insight into emerging issues in the global economy.

In advance of International Women’s Day on the 8th March, the GTPA is pleased to launch today a new campaign to shine a light on the women who rock international trade.

SMEs are the backbone of most economies and women business owners are also crucial to economic growth.

Lynn Rua is a skilled operational and commercial professional, currently working with a leading trade, logistics and distribution organisation. With 16 years’ experience developing constructive and cost-effective logistics solutions to meet the challenges and obstacles across global import and export activities.

Lynn develops and presents workshops to teach best practice’ processes to maximise efficiency, quality, cost effectiveness and customer service throughout the supply chain. With her Diploma in English-Spanish Interpreting, she has a special interest in building relations and facilitating trade between Australia and Latin America.

Ms. Mona Shrestha Adhikari, PhD is the Executive Director of Enterprise for Management, Economic Reform & Gender Equality (EMERGE) and also works as an independent development consultant. She believes in equitable, inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development and is passionate about women’s empowerment. She has more than 25 years of experience working in the private sector, national and international non-governmental organizations and international organizations.

In advance of International Women’s Day on the 8th March, the GTPA is pleased to launch today a new campaign to shine a light on the women who rock international trade. Our first leader is our very own Collins Rex.

Collins is passionate about seeing small business do better business and do it on the global stage!
To this end, she’s been responsible for the development and delivery of training courses across a range of topics, including export readiness, pitching/presentation & Free Trade Agreements workshops. Her international trade knowledge and skills have been honed over many years, as evidenced by her managing and delivering a number of major trade-related projects.

The rapid pace and scale of technological change and global flows of information, among other forces, are disrupting labour markets and fundamentally altering the future of work.

While these shifts may create economic growth, new jobs and flexible work, they may also lead to the automation and consequent disappearance of routine, manual roles.

“The GTPA congratulations the 76 WTO members committed to establishing eCommerce rules. The rapid pace and scale of technological change and global flows of information, among other forces, are disrupting labour markets and fundamentally altering the future of work. While these shifts may create economic growth, new jobs and flexible work, they may also lead to the automation and consequent disappearance of routine, manual roles,” said Lisa McAuley, CEO of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA).

Technological advancements, despite the disruption, also create opportunities for expansion into global markets for sectors of the population excluded from more traditional trade mechanisms. The ability to seize these opportunities and manage potential obstacles, however, is not evenly distributed.

Trade is at the heart of the geopolitical tensions between America and China, an issue that is dominating international headlines. In the meantime, technology is disrupting trade like never before, making processes more efficient and inclusive. And many regional and bilateral trade agreements are advancing.

The Asia Trade Summit will address these topics, and more, and give the audience a complete assessment of trade-related developments in the region.

The Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA) and our affiliate professional services arm, GTPServices, have had an outstanding first year since our launch at the periphery of the WTO Ministerial in Buenos Aires last December. We have been privileged to attract world-class contributors and community members from around the globe, and to be invited to contribute on a variety of fronts – training and certification, program development, policy, advisory and research among others – across four continents.

“Mwana, it is just too much! My small team of textile and clothing workers can’t keep up with all the standards the EU and other countries are demanding – how can a small business like ours, export and be profitable?” exclaims a frustrated Flora Banda who heads up a small cotton textile exporting business in Lusaka, Zambia, employing sixteen women workers.

This week the GTPA was delighted to partner with the EIF Initiative and DHL on a session focussed on building skills for the digital economy through education, interaction & advocacy as part of Africa Ecommerce Week in Nairobi, Kenya.

This interactive session with representatives from across Africa, with voices from the private sector, government and industry, produced a lively discussion on key issues, from addressing trade opportunities to the concerns around Africa engaging in the digital economy.

I am excited to join the Global Trade Professionals Alliance (GTPA) as Board Director. The vision behind the GTPA could not be presented to the international community at a more perfect, even critically important, moment in time when significant global drivers are shaping international trade, including shifting demographics, technological innovation, and the growth of new trade routes.

If you’d like the answer to these questions and inside tips on how to do business globally tune in to The Airport Economist TV series on Your Money 95 Free to Air Foxtel Channel 601 and Qantas and LATAM Airlines or at:

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The GTPA is delighted to partner with the EIF Programme on a session focussed on building skills for the digital economy through education, interaction & advocacy as part of Africa eCommerce Week.

The Africa eCommerce Week will be jointly organized with the African Union and the European Union. The event is hosted by the Government of Kenya and implemented in collaboration with partners of the ‘eTrade for All’ initiative.

The rapid pace and scale of technological change and global flows of information, among other forces, are disrupting labour markets and fundamentally altering the future of work. While these shifts may create economic growth, new jobs and flexible work, they may also lead to the automation and consequent disappearance of routine, manual roles.

Technological advancements, despite the disruption, also create opportunities for expansion into global markets for sectors of the population excluded from more traditional trade mechanisms.

Trade has always been shaped by technological innovation. In recent times, a new technology, Blockchain, has been greeted by many as the next big game-changer. Can Blockchain revolutionize international trade?

The publication introduces the technology with a basic explanation of how, as a tamper-proof, decentralized record of transactions, it allows participants to collaborate and build trust with each other. It describes different classifications of Blockchains and their current and possible applications in the various areas covered by WTO rules. In doing so, it provides an insight into the extent to which this technology could help with trade facilitation, including how it can hasten the transition to paperless trade transactions. It considers Blockchain's potential and limits in transforming services by looking at payment systems, insurance and the automation of contracts. The publication also discusses how Blockchain could help ease the administration of intellectual property rights and enhance government procurement processes.

Craig Weeks is an independent consultant for organizations needing Trade Finance and other Transaction Banking expertise. Craig is currently contracted to work for IFC/World Bank as a Trade Finance SME for FIG Advisory assignments in Latin America.

Roberto Azevedo, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and John W.H. Denton AO, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce launched the Global Dialogue on Trade at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Bali, Indonesia on 10 October 2018.

Thoughtful, fact-based and informed dialogue on trade is fundamental to assuring a robust and more inclusive model for trade around the world, as well as to demonstrably contributing to peace and security through engagement and mutual prosperity. Leadership today requires vision and courage, and the integrity to do more than pander to narrow interests and narrow views of the world.

The Economist recently ran a gratifying headline for any Australian – Aussie Rules! What the rest of the world can learn from Australia. We’ve been growing or 27 years without a recession. While commodities exports and decent long term economic policy matters, the report also highlighted Australia’s internationalised human capital system at the forefront of this performance.