Global trade is rapidly and often faced with increasing uncertainty. Supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions, inflation, changing sanctions and more complex regulations are making it harder for businesses.
Companies of all sizes seek assurance that their investments, contracts and shipments move safely and predictably across borders.
That’s why conversations about restoring confidence and resilience in business are both timely and critical.
At the recently concluded ICC Academy Supply Chain Finance Summit in Singapore, I had the opportunity to speak with John WH Denton AO, Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)To understand how global business can gain the confidence it needs to thrive.
Denton’s insight strengthened ICC’s position as a driving force for stability and certainty in an evolving business landscape.
The currency needed by world trade is certain
Denton stressed that the overall mission of the ICC is to bring order and predictability at a time of unprecedented global uncertainty.
“Wherever there is uncertainty, we as the ICC try to create certainty. Wherever there is disorder, we try to find orderDenton explained.Currently, uncertainty is the biggest deterrent to trade, even more so than tariffs.Denton added.
ICC works proactively across markets to reduce this uncertainty for businesses everywhere. This includes strengthening performance supply chains and ensuring that they are supported by the necessary access to financial resources.
For Denton, supply chains are not just operational networks. They are the core of global economic stability. Strengthening them requires not only physical infrastructure but also financial access.
One of the critical issues is ensuring the existence of efficient and effective supply chains.
The backbone of reliability is flexible and sustainable supply chains
Denton drew a clear link between supply chain flexibility and the need to support them financially.Part of a supply chain is ensuring access to financial resources to support it.Denton said..
The ICC considers this issue necessary to restore confidence in global trade.
“In this conference, we will talk about elements that can actually improve access to finance for the supply chain. But also, we’ll talk about how we make those supply chains more resilient.Denton added.
Denton noted that sustainability has become an important part of supply chain resilience.We connect supply chains with sustainability principles. This is something that we have done on our own initiative without any request from the governments, because the reality is that they cannot do it, we do it for them.“
We assure businesses that the supply chains they participate in are not only sustainable, but have the capacity to fully participate.Denton added.
The trade finance gap and the cost of trade finance at the global policy level
Commenting on the ICC’s role in helping global trade bridge the trade finance gap with events such as the ICC Academy Supply Chain Finance Summit, Denton stated that “ICC plays a big role in world trade.
We are one of the great enablers of the business environment, enabling approximately $17.5 trillion in economic activity each year.
So we are not an observer, we are a player.“
The ICC, through the G20 process, is trying to change the real macroprudential framework, which has led to increased trade finance costs.
Denton confirmed that the ICC was influencing change at the highest levels.We have worked in the G20 process to modernize the macroprudential framework.“
This advocacy effort continues as the G20 shifts leadership to South Africa and then to the United States, two economies where trade partnerships, supply chain investment and connectivity to the African market will be key issues.
Key foods
From the conversation with Denton, several clear messages emerged:
- Certainty creates confidence
- Trade financing is not a particular concern
- Sustainability is a competitive imperative
- The impact of policies is important
- The ICC is actively shaping the results
As the global economy continues to readjust and readjust, the ICC’s message is clear. Certainty is a strategic resource. A resource to be built in partnership with businesses, industry platforms and policy makers.
The ICC’s journey across ASEAN, through Africa, and into the Americas continues its mission to ensure that trade fosters prosperity, expands opportunity and builds confidence in a world in urgent need of stability.
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