Sunil Bharti Mittal calls upon G20 leaders to commit to internet access for all

ANTALYA: Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman, Bharti Enterprises and vice chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), on Sunday urged world leaders to commit and invest in developing digital infrastructure to deliver a brighter and more prosperous future to their citizens. He said internet can become the cornerstone of a more inclusive global economic growth.
Mittal underlined the urgent need to bridge the global digital divide and provide easy and affordable access to Information Communication Technologies to millions across.
“If we want to help people feed, heal, educate and employ themselves, we need to ensure they can connect to the internet. The challenge of connecting the world will require us to take many different and complimentary actions in the coming years," said Mittal.
He also stressed the need to support the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which generate 60% of the world’s private sector employment. “Globally, 95% of the enterprises are SMEs and these should be at the core of the global growth strategy outlined by the G20 nations. The SMEs can become a major source of employment opportunities for youth and support a more inclusive economic growth," he said.
He stressed on the need to bring more women and youth into the mainstream economic growth to ensure balanced growth within economies. Skilling and education infrastructure must be developed through enhanced public-private partnerships to ensure a viable talent pool for SMEs. “The global economy is facing considerable headwinds and the unemployment rate amongst youth across the world is at a high of 13%. We must create meaningful opportunities for the young people to avoid social unrest.”
Given the challenges facing the global business, Mr. Mittal also highlighted the four-point agenda outlined by the ICC B20 for the revival of the global business environment, to the G20 leaders.
These include ratifying and implementing the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
New WTO research suggests that the TFA could boost global trade flows by an unprecedented US$3.6 trillion, creating more than 20 million jobs in the process. The impact of implementing the TFA would be greater than eliminating all remaining tariff barriers the world over-and could lead to an increase in SME exports by up to 80% in some economies as the internet opens up new market opportunities.
Although 51 countries have ratified the TFA to date, 108 are required to do so for the agreement to enter into force. IBAC members are calling on the G20 economies to do all they can to speed effective implementation of this landmark agreement in the months ahead. Mittal also called for taking taking concrete actions to create more opportunities for women and young people in the labour market.
The global unemployment rate stands at 5.9%. For young people it's 13.1%. Women are also much more likely to be unemployed, under-employed or in less secure jobs. All of this has a major economic as well as social cost.
The global business community is therefore calling on the G20 to commit to a comprehensive strategy to boost youth and female participation.
He also calked for establishing country-specific infrastructure strategies to boost investment in much needed infrastructure projects worldwide.
The world's leading economies need to articulate coherent national strategies to repair and invest in their infrastructure. The launch of the Global Infrastructure Hub under last year's Australian G20 presidency was a major step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to build on this important platform.
Mittal also backed the idea to improve SME access to finance.
Recent research shows that the enormous potential of small businesses is being held back by limited access to reasonably priced finance. To take just one example: SMEs often rely on bank credit to allow them to export, but ICC new data shows that over 50 percent of SME applications for trade finance are now turned down by banks.