Business

Value chains. On May 8th, the first meeting of the G20 Trade and Investment Working Group in Buenos Aires ended. The work was oriented towards the aspects of trade and investment linked to value chains in the agri-food sector, the new industrial revolution and the current situation of global trade. In particular, the specific needs of women, developing countries and SMEs to achieve greater integration into international trade were analyzed. The Group will resume this agenda on September 12th in Mar del Plata (Argentina) with the objective of presenting a document of recommendations at the G20 Leaders Summit on November 30th.

Regarding the global value chains in the agricultural sector, the “Context Document for the Argentine Presidency of the G20 2018 on global value chains of agriculture and food” was discussed. This was subscribed by the International Trade Center, OECD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, and makes a series of recommendations.

These institutions point out that in order to maximize the potential benefits of the participation of global value chains (CVG), governments must eliminate or restrict barriers to trade in agri-food products, both tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and strengthening the broader environment of trade and investment. The agrifood CVG`s  allow the producers of all the sizes to participate and help to ensure greater gains to the greater number of participants.

They also suggest advancing the agreement on international instruments to encourage good practices by companies that invest in global agricultural and food value chains. In the same way, in the adoption of a guide of conduct by different actors of the supply chain and its harmonization with the national regulation.

To complement the global action, they also encourage the adoption of measures at the national level to enable the participation of different actors. From this perspective, policies that improve the competitive positioning of SMEs could contribute to improving the use of GVCs. At the same time, the incorporation of the gender perspective and the promotion of a greater integration of women in the GVCs is promoted.

Next steps

The Group will resume its activity in a meeting scheduled for 12th and 13th September in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. The work of this group will culminate with a document of analysis and recommendations that will be presented to the G20 Leaders Summit that will take place between November 30th and December 1st, 2018.