Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Monday, 18 November 2013 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Principal Sponsor of the Commonwealth Business Forum 2013, Standard Chartered, together with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), hosted a breakfast meeting for global business and government leaders.
Held on 13 November 2013, the breakfast meeting featured a panel discussion and a subsequent open discussion involving the attending business personalities.
Chairing the session was S. Gopalakrishnan, President, CII and Co-Founder & Executive Vice Chairman, Infosys Ltd. The panel of speakers included Khumbo Hastings Kachale, Vice President of the Republic of Malawi, Sir Thomas Harris, Vice Chairman – Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, Rita O’Sullivan, Country Director, Asian Development Bank, Ashroff Omar, Chief Executive Officer, Brandix Sri Lanka and Samiran Chakraborty, Head of Research – India & South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank.
Chakraborty, who has been adjudged as India’s Top Economist by Asset Magazine for three consecutive years, opened with a presentation on ‘Macro overview on the global economy’.
‘Developing Markets vs. Emerging Markets’
The panel discussion centered on the theme ‘Developing Markets vs. Emerging Markets: Impact of the current global economy on emerging global trade corridors’. The speakers stressed on the criticality of trade corridors and trade agreements between countries and regions, the increasing role of emerging markets in driving global growth, the necessity to increase investment on expanding trade capacities and improving global supply chains, and the importance of growing South-South trade.
Sir Thomas spoke on the improvement of regional cooperation to streamline trade and the importance of emerging markets in the context of global trade and the increase in trading between Africa, Asia and the Middle East, while O’Sullivan highlighted the need for investment 
on improving supply chains in terms of infrastructure, logistics, export-import procedures and sourcing quality.
Speaking on trade agreements and pacts, Omar emphasised on the necessity of national and regional outputs of different sectors to enable emerging markets to be competitive and part of the trade flow.
Delta for global trade shifting
“The delta for global trade is shifting from the West,” remarked Chakraborty, as the panel discussed the forecasted increase in global trade volumes for which emerging markets will contribute an increasingly greater percentage.
In closing, Sir Thomas highlighted the need for more professionals and vital economic reforms that enable emerging economies to diversify trade links and increase business linkages. He was bullish on the growth of Eastern markets and their emergence as important contributors to global supply chains through trade corridors.
