21 July 2020 The International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) 11th annual Global Survey on Trade Finance reveals that banks are optimistic about the evolving nature of trade finance, though unsurprisingly expect various industry-wide challenges and disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 ICC Global Survey report – recognised as the world’s most authoritative review of the trade finance industry – has been released based on exclusive information from nearly 350 respondents in more than 80 countries, bolstered by nuanced contributions from an

15 July 2020 The International Court of Arbitration (ICC Court) of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has published its full dispute resolution statistical report for 2019, having announced preliminary record figures in January. The ICC Court registered a record 869 new cases in 2019. Of that total, 851 were administered under the ICC Rules of Arbitration and involved parties originating from 147 countries and independent territories, as well as arbitrators from a record 89 jurisdictions. In 18 cases, ICC was acting as appointing authority. Another ICC record included

15 July 2020 Violent attacks against ships and their crews have risen in 2020, with 77 seafarers taken hostage or kidnapped for ransom since January, reveals the ICC International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) latest piracy report. The Gulf of Guinea off West Africa is increasingly dangerous for commercial shipping, accounting for just over 90% of maritime kidnappings worldwide. Meanwhile ship hijackings are at their lowest since 1993. In total, IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) recorded 98 incidents of piracy and armed robbery in the first half

13 July 2020 ICC, ITUC and Global Citizen call for greater action by G20 Governments on sovereign debt relief. In an open letter issued today, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the institutional representative of over 45 million businesses, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the global voice of the world’s working people, and Global Citizen, a movement of engaged citizens who use their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030, have urged G20 Finance Ministers to build on previous efforts to deliver a

10 July 2020 The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) will discuss the potential of digital technologies for development and building back better from the current crisis, as part of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2020. In the early 2000s, the Geneva Plan of Action, agreed during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), identified eighteen areas of activity in which governments, civil society entities, businesses and international organizations could work together to achieve the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs)

1 July 2020 The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) joins the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and other partner organisations to launch a major survey to understand the unique challenges faced by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in least-developed countries (LDCs). The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Global Alliance PME (GAPME), Concordia, Columbia University-Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, and Business Africa convened several consultative meetings in May and June 2020. The institutions expressed their