TRADE-DSM User Group Conference Media Release

South Africa - 12 March 2020

Trade topics: Other, Trade and Development, Trade Facilitation, Trade Policy

Within a few short weeks, the coronavirus (Covid-19) has spread across the world and become a global phenomenon. All countries are deeply concerned about it and all countries will almost certainly be seriously affected by it, with some governments resorting to extreme measures to try and limit its potentially devastating impact ‒ from locking down entire cities or regions to suspending air travel. While the world has experienced many shocks over the years Covid-19 has pushed global instability and uncertainty to a new level.
It is in the face of a global health pandemic of this nature that the integrated nature of the global economy is brought into sharp focus, with production as well as trade and investment flows – the lifeblood of the global economy – thrown into disarray. How then should policymakers, trade promotion officials and business people be responding to the coronavirus and indeed other disruptions in the world?

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