Interview: Trade, innovation key to "reinventing" post-pandemic world, says WBCSD head

The head of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is calling for global collaboration to make supply chains more resilient, adding that the upcoming China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) comes at a crucial time and could lead to more exchanges.

"When a crisis like a pandemic hits the world, it all of a sudden shows the vulnerability that we globally have and it also shows the interconnectedness of countries, of people, of businesses all around the world," WBCSD President and CEO Peter Bakker told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"These things are bigger than individual companies can deal with and that's why we continue to call for collaboration," he said. "I'm hoping that everybody realizes that we can only deal with these big shocks if we work together."

Founded in 1995, the Geneva-based WBCSD is a global, CEO-led organization of over 200 leading businesses working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. Its member companies come from all business sectors and all major economies.

MORE RESILIENT SUPPLY CHAINS

Asked about how he would assess the early responses of companies to the pandemic, Bakker said: "Generally speaking, responses have been fast, professional and adequate."

"At the same time, we must admit that most companies, if not all, were ill-prepared for the shock that COVID-19 brought. Supply chains have proven to be not as resilient as we may have thought."

"We have a lot of lessons to learn, what can we do to make supply chains more resilient? So that in the future when shocks like this or other shocks like climate change were to emerge, we are prepared to deal with it," Bakker added.

He also said that big tech giants are important actors to support the global economic recovery.

"It has by now become clear that all these high-tech companies, whether Chinese or U.S.-based, are amongst the beneficiaries of this crisis. We have all around the world become more reliant on technology to connect us," the CEO said.

"Home deliveries have become more important so people were at some point not able or allowed to go out to get their groceries and do their shopping. Services like Alibaba and Amazon are vital elements and will continue to serve us all well."

CRUCIAL CHINA TRADE FAIR

The CIFTIS, one of the world's largest comprehensive fairs for trade in services, is scheduled to take place in Beijing in early September. It has prepared both online and offline events due to the global pandemic situation.

Asked about his expectations for the upcoming fair in the face of the pandemic, Bakker said: "It's very important to have a trade fair like this... It can begin to give confidence in the ability to recover. From where I sit, we've seen the Chinese government respond well to the initial crisis."

"Trade needs to flow around the world. We cannot have trade barriers and trade wars," he said, adding the trade fair "comes at a crucial point in time."

In recent years, China has been transitioning from a manufacturing-driven economy to one that is services and consumption-led. Bakker said that sectors such as cultural and creative industries, financial services, communications and tourism will play a bigger role in China going forward.

He also urged that in the aftermath of the pandemic, "we need to build forward better. I don't think post COVID-19 we will build back better. We will not go back to how it was."

"We will need to reinvent ourselves. We will need to reinvent financial services, tourism, communication services, and I'm hoping that China with its real wave of innovation and its tech companies can contribute to that. This trade fair can expose some of that potential."