The Digital Economy Platform, provided at no cost to the end user, represents the required tools to reduce OIC countries’ annual trade costs by USD 75 billion, increase global trade by USD 1.2 trillion, create a new USD 6 trillion services industry market opportunity and generate nearly 100 million new jobs, with 32 million in the MEA region.
ICDT’s Director General Dr. El Hassane Hzaine and GCEL’s Co-Chairman Captain Samuel Salloum signed the Agreement. This MOU compliments similar partnerships between GCEL and pan regional organizations around the world including the League of Arab States and Organization of American States, as well as with major economies including G20 countries India and Indonesia.
Captain Salloum welcomed ICDT to the New Millennium Standard for Growth (N-MSG) Council stating, “The N-MSG Council is a global partnership that came together at a time of urgency to assist Aid For Trade on a global level with regional implementation thus delivering tangible economic results to our partners. The Council has the required agility and neutrality delivering a “New Message” to the world thus transforming hope to confidence and confidence into reality.” Captain Salloum elaborated, “Our N-MSG has four foundations: one, a defined and quantified economic target that meets our partners’ ambitions; two, a roadmap to reach the defined goals; three, the required tools when implementing the roadmap; and four, the global consensus that enhances and expedites the delivery of our program.”
Dr. Hzaine stated, “The world recognizes that trade is essential to sustain economic growth. Today with the economic crises, a new trade order is being shaped by emerging alliances, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) called by the USA and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) triggered by China. The OIC countries must be ready to occupy the role they deserve in this new trade order and overcome the obstacles that hinder regional integration in the region, in particular non-tariff barriers including logistics issues. Therefore, a key foundation requires that we commit to trade efficiency and transparency which is the basis for our partnership with GCEL.”
The agreement follows the Asia Benchmark Trade Lane launch between India and Indonesia where GCEL completed trade efficiency assessments in these countries, plus Malaysia, covering 20% of the world population and 40% of MEA’s non-oil trade volume.
