FPCI – Milken Institute Virtual Public Discussion “The Future of Trade Policy: Pandemics, Populism, and other Challenges”
On Wednesday, 29 July 2020, FPCI in cooperation with Milken Institute has successfully convened The FPCI – Milken Institute Virtual Public Discussion titled The Future of Trade Policy: Pandemics, Populism, and other Challenges.
The OECD Economic Outlook published this June revealed that an unprecedented collapse in the first half of this year due to the novel coronavirus outbreak caused an almost 13% decline in global GDP. This was a far cry from the more optimistic interim prediction of 1.5% that was projected back in May 2020. Needless to say, there is a need to keep international trade ongoing to ensure that supply of basic and essential products across the world is fulfilled. Further, doing so will also send a signal to boost confidence for the global economy as countries are set to enter recessions that are arguably more detrimental than the 2008 global financial crisis.
Over the course of this Virtual Discussion, panels from FPCI and Milken Institute discussed the overall impact of COVID-19 on world trade. Addressing issues from challenges facing existing trade institutions such as the WTO, RCEP, and TPP, projecting recovery period and measures to be taken for trade to rebound, governments’ current and future appetite for free trade across the world, and ongoing frictions of US-China trade negotiations and the possibility for it to spread to other countries.
The discussion was moderated by Dr. Dino Patti Djalal, Founder of FPCI and Laura Deal Lacey, Executive Director of the Milken Institute Asia Center featuring high-level expert speakers:
1. Gita Wirjawan, Former Minister of Trade of Indonesia
2. Steve Ciobo, Former Minister of Trade, Tourism, and Investment of Australia
3. Cesar Purisima, Former Secretary of Finance of Republic of the Philippines
4. Frank Lavin, CEO and Founder of Export Now; Trustee of The Asia Foundation
