Welcome to an exciting episode of GTR Trade Talks! Join us as we dive into the highlights of this year's event, which unfolded in the vibrant city of Singapore on September 5-6, 2023.

Over 1,200 delegates from across the globe gathered at GTR Asia 2023 to gain invaluable insights into the ever-evolving realms of trade, treasury, commodities, and fintech. This dynamic event served as a platform where industry leaders, experts, and enthusiasts came together to explore practical strategies and innovations shaping the future of international business.

A familiar face took the stage once again this year. Peter Ong, Chairman of Enterprise Singapore, delivered the keynote address for the third consecutive year. In his compelling speech, he illuminated the audience on the rapid growth and transformative trends in trade digitalisation that have emerged over the past year. Get ready to discover the key takeaways and inspiring moments from this insightful event.

Tune in and join us on this journey through the world of trade, treasury, commodities, and fintech at GTR Asia 2023!

In the latest episode of the Trade Talks podcast, we reflect on GTR's return to the live events space with the 2021 instalment of GTR UK, which welcomed over 400 delegates in London last week.

We’re joined on the podcast by the chair of the event, Adam Marshall, a senior advisor to Flint Global and HSBC UK, and who until fairly recently was Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce.

He gives an overview of some of the main “takeaways” from the day, including the two different languages being spoken in the UK trade sector, growing efforts to digitise trade and bolster supply chain resiliency, and how inflation could hit British businesses in the year ahead.

In this latest installment of the Trade Talks podcast, we hear from various experts who joined GTR's recent Trade Finance Funds 2021 webinar, exploring the increasingly central role of funds in the trade finance ecosystem, from differing business models to changes in investor sentiment and the role of ESG, technological advances and the ongoing need for transparency and due diligence.

In this latest podcast instalment, GTR speaks with Rajiv Biswas, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at IHS Markit on the impact of COVID-19 on trade and global supply in East Asia.

Among the key points covered:

• Where do from here? Assessing the risk of financial crises arising due to deep global economic shocks
• How long can the lockdown of major economies continue as global unemployment and government debt levels soar?
• To what extent does the current situation demonstrate the importance of robust value chains?
• Are we likely to see a change in the approach to dealing with China going forward?
• Has the pandemic exposed flaws in the 'just in time' inventory model particularly in the supply of essential products?
• What are the likely political consequences of the huge expenditure undertaken by nation states to prop up their economies?

In this latest podcast instalment, GTR gathers a number of experts together to assess the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, lockdowns and economic turbulence on the African market.

• Where are we now? Dr Robert Besseling, Executive Director of EXX Africa, and Memeh Onyebuchi, Head of Trade for South Africa and Southern Africa at Standard Chartered, provide an overview of the current situation.
• Is the farm still reaching the fork? Antonella De Cunha of Capespan, a fresh fruit supplier, and Louw van Reenen of South African meat producer Beefmaster, speak about how the pandemic is impacting on their business processes.
• The role of export credit: With strong ECA support required in this time of great uncertainty, Gabby Buck of GKB Ventures and Angelica Adamski of the Sweden-Africa Chamber of Commerce survey the current state of the market.
• Closing summary: Duarte Pedreira of Crown Agents Bank, Vinod Madhavan of Standard Bank and sustainability practitioner Mandy Rapson provide perspectives on free trade, digitisation and the need for Africa to move up the value chain.

Looking back to the GTR Nordics 2019 conference in Stockholm last November emphasises just how much priorities have changed across the trade sector during the first half of 2020; though many of the ‘old normal’ challenges discussed will inevitably persist into the future. In this latest podcast episode we recap highlights selected from 2 of the event’s keynote sessions, and catch up with the team at blockchain consortium we.trade on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic:

• Known knowns and known unknowns: Ryan Fayhee, Partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed and Daniel Nord, Legal Counsel, Trade Compliance at Ericsson share their perspectives on the unintended consequences and practical trade challenges arising from the global sanctions regime

• Joined-up thinking: Journalist and broadcaster Mia Odebas joins Ville Sointu, Nordea’s Head of Emerging Technologies, discussing the need for digital network building to harness the full potential of digitisation for the trade sector.
• Jumping forward to April 2020, we caught up with we.trade Chief Financial Officer Eimaar Kelly and Chief Executive Officer Ciaran McGowan on how the current crisis is impacting we.trade’s operations and their wider network.