Rocky Mountain News
May 9, 2002
ICC’s ‘Denver Declaration’
By Richard McCormick and participants at the ICC World Congress
Fifty years of growth in trade has improved millions of lives. Yet far too many people still have inadequate food, shelter, water, health care…and hope.
We, the businesspeople of ICC, pledge (to) invest resources, energies and cooperation in helping governments and peoples everywhere on their journey toward economic hope and stability.
We believe the exchange of ideas, capital, products and services is good for people locally, and friendships globally.
We remain, as our founders declared 80 years ago, “Merchants of Peace.”
Through the years, billions of dollars in aid have done little to alleviate poverty. The countries that have made the most economic progress opened their doors to foreign trade and investment by establishing regulations that encourage trade, guaranteeing the rule of law and joining other governments in trade agreements.
These agreements have (resulted in) increased foreign investment, higher local wages, affordable goods and services, growing local economies, and better standards of living.
But many needs – and opportunities – remain.
We urge governments to approach the current trade negotiations with a commitment to resolve trade disputes through negotiation rather than litigation; continue to reduce or eliminate tariffs; streamline customs procedures; lower protectionist barriers in agriculture; agree on principles of direct foreign investment; and address labor standards through the International Labor Organization.
For all the questions that face the world today, one proven answer is increased trade.
Not long ago, many people were afraid of automobiles, telephones and canned food. Today, most of the citizens of the world take those items for granted – or wish they could.
Tomorrow’s commonplace technologies are generating their own share of suspicion today. Some groups question the safety of genetically modifying food crops, even though such science represents the next great leap in feeding the hungry.
We call upon governments to open their minds and doors to the promise of tremendous advances in agriculture, biotechnology and life sciences.
To provide for billions of inhabitants, our world needs more than simple tools. We need technology – and the freedom to develop and use it.
A peaceful, prosperous 21st century requires that both business and government do what they do best.
Governments must provide the public services and the physical and legal infrastructures that enable our societies to function and our economies to grow.
Businesses must provide the capital, ideas, technologies and skills that create products, services, jobs and opportunities.
But both must apply their complementary skills to the challenges that neither can handle alone.
We will approach government as a partner in our common efforts to expand economies while protecting the environment and serving people.
Poverty, war, disease, terrorism and recession plague parts of our world today – and, directly or indirectly, threaten all of us tomorrow.
We must work together to solve these problems through communication, cooperation and economic growth – all of which are advanced by international trade.
We pledge our efforts to advance the cause of economic hope and stability – through trade, technology and partnership – for all people, worldwide.
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Richard McCormick is president of the ICC. This is an excerpt from the Denver Declaration of the ICC World Congress May 6-8 in Denver.
