Exploring New Approaches To Trade Investment and Jobs Event Description

ABOUT THE EVENT

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The OECD is recognized and respected by policymakers and business leaders around the world for its fact-based economic analysis and policy recommendations over a wide range of issues. OECD has developed international standards covering areas from agriculture and tax to the safety of chemicals.  But nowhere is the work of the OECD more critical than in the areas of trade and investment.  Governments know that unleashing private sector investment and trade is an essential driving force for economies to achieve inclusive, sustainable growth. They look to the work of the OECD in deciding which policies can most effectively open markets for their businesses.

As companies have adapted to political, technological and economic changes by creating global value chains to remain competitive, the pathbreaking work of the OECD on Trade in Value Added (TiVA) has been critical to understanding the policy changes needed to deal with this new reality.  As services have become an ever larger part of the global economy, the OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) provides the information governments need to tackle services regulatory barriers in trade negotiations such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) or the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA).  The OECD works closely with business through the U.S. Council for International Business (USCIB) and Business and Industry Advisory Committee to OECD (BIAC) in gathering the data and understanding of business practices it needs to develop practical recommendations for government policies that will open up trade and investment .

The USCIB Foundation, BIAC and the OECD are jointly hosting a one-day conference in Washington, D.C. on October 30, 2014 to highlight the innovative work that OECD is doing in the areas of trade and investment and to discuss how this work impacts policy and trade negotiations around the world.  This program will bring together experts from OECD, U.S. and foreign governments, and business on global value chains, services trade barriers, investment agreements, trade facilitation, and the relationship between regional and multilateral trade negotiations.  Speakers will draw on OECD studies in discussing the current and future direction of global trade and investment policies.

This program will be taking place at a critical time for negotiations in the WTO, TPP, TTIP, and TiSA.  It will provide a unique opportunity for participants to gain insights into the policy challenges being addressed in these negotiations and the prospects for success in further opening global markets for trade and investment.

Staff Contact:   Chris Olsen

Policy Manager, Regulation and Trade
Tel: 202.617.3156

Chris Olsen is USCIB’s Manager of Regulation and Trade. Olsen leads USCIB’s policy work on issues related to product policy, chemicals, banking and finance, and coordinates USCIB’s engagement in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. He joined USCIB in 2015 and has previously supported multiple portfolios in USCIB’s Washington, DC office. Prior to joining USCIB, Olsen worked at the Atlantic Council’s Millennium Leadership Program, where he built and developed global young professional programming for the next generation of transatlantic leaders. Early in his career he also served an internship at the EastWest Institute’s DC office. Olsen received a BA in International Affairs and History from James Madison University, with a minor in Middle Eastern Communities and Migrations.
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