During a high-level conference in Brussels on Friday 13 October, the European Services Forum (ESF) highlighted that the European services industry and the activities of its sub-sectors formed a key component in the trade agreements currently being negotiated by the EU with third countries or regional blocs and at multilateral level.
"All exporters should look at the services components of trade negotiations, where crucial aspects like cross-border data flows, access for investment and movement of business personnel are dealt with”, new ESF Chairman and Global Head of Regulatory & Public Policy Affairs at BDO Noel Clehane stated.
European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström said that the EU was the largest exporter of services in the world and that the surplus for its trade in services increased to €130 billion in 2016.
Malmström highlighted the key role of services in the global supply chain, stating that today’s modes of production blur the distinction between goods and services, and that many EU services directly enable trade in goods.
"Trade in services represents more than half of the total EU exports in value, with more than €900 billion in 2015, so services deserve high priority in EU trade agreements”, outgoing ESF Chairman Sir Thomas Harris stated.
At the conference in Brussels on Friday, speakers from the WTO, OECD, European Commission and various think-tanks addressed trade in services themes, such as digitisation and the current trend of services being provided by many traditional manufacturing companies. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)