Global Business Coalition: trade and digitalisation are top priorities

Business leaders from major world economies met in Delhi, India, on 11 and 12 February and agreed that trade and digitalisation should remain top priorities for the international business community in 2019. "Business is very concerned by increasing trade tensions around the world and unilateral actions that are threatening the multilateral trading system and the WTO", said Markus J. Beyrer, BusinessEurope Director General. Digitalisation, he added, enables trade and brings new business opportunities for many companies, especially SMEs in manufacturing and services sectors. "We need rules and standards that support the digital economy and address increasing threats like cybercrime. We must be aware of measures that limit data flows and promote forced data localisation", Beyrer said. The gathering was also an opportunity to discuss EU-India relations. BusinessEurope conveyed to India’s Minister of Commerce Shri Suresh Prabhu the message that we need to be ambitious and deepen our bilateral trade and investment relationship. India has unilaterally terminated bilateral investment agreements with EU Member States. We need to urgently put in place an EU-India investment agreement. Read the press release by the Global Business Coalition