Lord Marland of Odstock, Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, welcomes the opportunity provided by the forthcoming Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting to formulate a trade and investment agenda for the Commonwealth.
In March we will host the inaugural Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting in London. Thirty Commonwealth Trade Ministers and 100 specially invited senior executives will come together with the objective of reaffirming the Commonwealth commitment to a ‘transparent free and fair multilateral trading system’, and to define an ambitious Commonwealth led 'Agenda for Growth' to promote trade, investment and job creation in member countries. This will support our target of increasing intra-Commonwealth trade to US$1 trillion by 2020.
A Commonwealth united in support of free and fair global trade is more important than ever before. And that in itself will be a key outcome of this meeting. But if the Commonwealth is to be truly relevant, both on the global stage and to its 52 member countries and 2.4 billion citizens, we will need to be more ambitious about what we can achieve together…
Lord Marland of Odstock
Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council
