City AM: Get on a plane and engage with emerging economies

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Spanning 56 nations across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania, the Commonwealth is a unique and unrivalled patchwork of skills, innovation and knowledge. 

The City of London Corporation was proud to be a founding member of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council over ten years ago, and we are delighted to be hosting the Commonwealth Trade and Investment Summit in the City this week, bringing hundreds of business leaders, government representatives and policy makers together in one room across two days. 

The summit convenes at a moment of heightened global tensions. Conflict tests the resolve and durability of our international alliances; climate change pushes our resourcefulness and adaptability to the limit; while turbulent supply chains and the rapid development of emerging technologies force us to learn and evolve at breakneck speed. At a time of such uncertainty, no one place – regardless of size, location or economic might – can stand alone. 

The bonds that bind us together with our fellow 55 member states give us a tangible advantage – the “Commonwealth advantage” – one in which it is 21 per cent cheaper to do business within the Commonwealth than it is elsewhere.

From Guyana to Fiji, Bangladesh to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, there is remarkable growth across our network of nations. As Lord Mayor, my message to businesses in the United Kingdom this year is a simple one: join me on trade missions around the world, or better yet, jump on planes, bang on doors and engage with these emerging economies yourself. Countries throughout the Commonwealth want to do business with us. Their economies are growing rapidly. The time to invest in them is now. 

While I believe there is real urgency to this work, trade, of course, is about so much more than financial transactions. It drives growth, nurtures jobs, lifts people out of poverty and acts as a safeguard against conflict. For thousands of years, the exchange of goods, ideas, capital, and expertise has underwritten alliances. In short, it is a unifying force that bridges borders, language and creed.