DHL Group Reveals Action Items to Boost Inclusive and Sustainable Trade

DHL Group has released its first GoTrade Summit Report. The report called “Fostering Sustainable and Inclusive Trade” provides recommendations for Policy Makers & Practitioners to boost inclusive and sustainable trade. Those are based on the findings of the first inaugural GoTrade Summit, hosted by Deutsche Post DHL Group.

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The summit attracted about 600 participants from more than 40 countries working for several international organizations at the end of January 2022. Trade, logistics, and the connectivity of people being the structural forces of pushing well-being for everyone were broadly echoed throughout the event. However, all participants agreed on action items to further embrace the advantages of cross-border trade for everybody. This report provides insights on how to shape modern trade policy and to further strengthen the global trade system. Deutsche Post DHL Group’s intention is to draw on the insights and implied actions from this event to shape future GoTrade initiatives.

“Trade builds bridges that strengthen us as a global community. It equals jobs and creates a livelihood for people. Moreover, trade and globalization have contributed to peace and international understanding – and will continue doing so”

“Our newly established GoTrade Summit attracted committed advocates for trade facilitation to seize its societal advantages. This forum revealed a strong case for public-private initiatives to modernize trade policy in a sustainable and inclusive manner. Together we want to make sure that the implied action points raised throughout the event will translate into actions.”

Frank Appel, CEO, Deutsche Post DHL Group.

DHL Group Wants Modern Trade to Broaden its Focus on Inclusivity

Participants of the GoTrade Summit agreed to promote inclusiveness of trade. The trade-off between higher economic performance – thanks to free trade – and equality needs to be addressed more thoroughly. In that respect, one finding revealed that trade policy-making mechanisms need to ensure that they are transparent and account for the needs of smaller businesses. Offering trade knowledge to locally bound small and medium-sized businesses while simultaneously reducing complexity in trading across borders is the winning recipe for inclusivity.

Close collaboration between the public and private sectors, seen with international vaccine logistics, is key to unlocking the entire power of global trade

Effective collaboration between private and public institutions in trade facilitation has unfolded its genuine strength with international vaccine logistics. Seeing policymakers strengthen the approach of listening to the private sector working on the ground, as they did by joining to fight the pandemic, can help to unleash the power of trade facilitation. The collaboration between logistics providers, governments, and international organizations seen on shipping COVID-19 vaccines serves as a blueprint for cross-border transactions. The processes and practices introduced during the pandemic have served countries well and revealed the power of a coordinated approach to assure seamless supply chain effectiveness. Levering this approach may help cross-border trade to grow even faster, reducing congestion e.g. by implementing pre-arrival clearance of goods. 

Digital tools and technologies will play an ever-increasing role in trade facilitation

Digitalization is a critical enabler for a more inclusive trade policy. Implementing digital solutions help to improve the performance and efficiency of trade and customs procedures further adding greater legal certainty and driving better compliance. Particularly small businesses have always struggled with the complexity of global trade. Now, on the one hand, digitalization makes this easier, but on the other hand, digital solutions need to stay inclusive. As a conclusion, projects to digitize trade require a focus on implementation efforts and investments needed in using them. Only by keeping both in a manageable magnitude also for SMEs will enable them to enter global markets.

SMEs suffer disproportionately from trade barriers

Most business activity still takes place inside national borders, and the flows that do cross-national borders mainly take place between neighboring countries. Prevailing trends still point to a future with large business opportunities to gain from stronger links to the wider world. SMEs need empowerment, training, and financial support to tackle those advantages of cross-border trade, especially in developed and least developed countries. 

About the GoTrade Summit

On 27th and 28th January 2022 Deutsche Post DHL Group hosted its inaugural GoTrade Summit with the theme “Connecting People, Improving Lives”. It was hosted at the DHL Group Innovation Centre in Troisdorf, Germany. While Moderators and Hosts participated in person, panelists attended either in person or remotely via video streaming technologies. Of the 600 participants, the majority joined the event using the conference’s web portal and streaming facilities. Participation in the event was by invitation only by DHL Group.