This week will see the biannual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) take place in Samoa, while Russia hosts BRICS nations in Kazan. The Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade will be welcoming students to Mansion House for its 2024 graduation ceremony.
CHOGM
World leaders from Commonwealth nations, including UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, will meet in Samoa this week (21 – 26 October) for the biannual CHOGM summit.
Every other year, member states gather to discuss how they can “work together to build resilience, boost trade, innovation, growth and empower the Commonwealth’s 1.5 billion young people for a more peaceful and sustainable future”.
Starmer will be arriving at the summit with His Majesty King Charles III on Thursday (24 October), which will include business forum events and meetings of foreign ministers.
Ahead of the event, think tank Policy Exchange published a report last week (17 October), advocating for the Commonwealth to become a trade bloc
‘One Family’, which has cross-party support in the UK and endorsements from former Canadian PM Stephen Harper and former Australian minister Andrew Downer, proposed a Commonwealth Trade & Investment Commission, which could harness “existing advantages based on a common language and similar administrative systems”.
This echoes other calls to better harness the strategic potential of a coalition of nations with a common language and similar institutional structures. Earlier this year, business leaders suggested that closer economic ties with the Commonwealth would be advantageous following the UK’s departure from the EU at an event hosted by the Commonwealth Economic and Investment Council.
However, calls for greater unity have been challenged by continued calls for UK reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade.
In response to repeated calls for compensation from Barbados’ PM Mia Mottley, a Downing Street spokesperson said last week that reparations will “not be on the agenda” at CHOGM and the UK does “not pay reparations”.
Russia hosts BRICS
Russian president Vladmir Putin hosts BRICS nations in Kazan this week (22 – 24 October).
Attracting democratic and undemocratic powers alike, BRICS - originally comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South African - has grown in recent years to include new members from South America, the Middle East and Africa.
Ahead of the summit, Putin told business leaders in Moscow that its members are “essentially the drivers of global economic growth”.
He added that: “In the foreseeable future, BRICS will generate the main increase in global GDP.
“The economic growth of BRICS members will increasingly depend less on external influence or interference. This is essentially economic sovereignty.”
This aspiration aligns with plan to develop the bloc as a counterweight to the dominance of developed Western countries in geopolitics and trade.
Politico reported that this campaign encountered a setback last week, when Kazakhstan rebuffed Putin’s invitation to join the bloc. In response, Russia banned imports of fruit and vegetables from the Central Asian nation.
Lammy in Asia
Having met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and vice premier Ding Xuexiang in Beijing last week, and attended the inauguration of Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto last weekend, UK foreign secretary David Lammy is visiting South Korea today (21 October).
Reuters reports that security will be high on the agenda, following accusations from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy that North Korea is preparing to send 10,000 troops to aid Russia’s military.
In a foreign office statement, Lammy announced the launch of a new defence dialogue between the two nations.
The 'UK and South Korea Foreign and Defence Ministerial 2 + 2 Dialogue' is designed to “enable discussion on issues of shared national interest and identification of new opportunities to tackle shared threats together – jointly improving our resilience”.
Lammy said:
“Our South Korean partners have stood side-by-side with us in defence of Ukraine whilst also working to preserve regional stability here on the Korean peninsula.
“It is a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of conflict, with North Korea supporting Russia and prolonging conflict on Europe’s borders whilst their illegal weapons of mass destruction programme threatens regional security.”
On trade, although South Korea was in the UK’s top 25 trading partners in the year to April 2024, bilateral trade decreased over this period, with exports in particular falling over 15% according to Department for Business and Trade data.
Last year’s Downing Street Accord, signed by the then-Conservative government in November, expanded the existing EU rollover agreement between the two countries, while also paving the way for future trade talks.
Chartered Institute
It's a busy week ahead for the Chartered Institute, beginning with a virtual meeting of Welsh international trade figures.
Part of our new Devolved Nations Member Forums, today will bring together traders from Wales, with those from Scotland and Northern Ireland meeting later this year and next, to discuss regional issues and share solutions.
Paul Brooks, the Chartered Institute’s head of UK nations and regions, said that he was looking forward to the forum, which be well attended by “representatives from Welsh government, organisations engaging in trade, academics, and representatives from ports”.
On Wednesday (23 October), we’ll also be hosting a public webinar on “How to avoid your goods getting stuck or delayed at the border” in partnership with Customs4trade.
We’ll be covering common pitfalls that traders experience when moving goods across the UK border, such as navigating new systems for cross border trade, existing rules and requirements, as well as rules set to be introduced in 2025.
You can still sign up for the hour-long webinar, which will be held at 2pm, here.
We’ll close the week by holding a graduation ceremony for the Chartered Institute Class of 2024.
Hundreds of students will gather at Mansion House on Thursday to celebrate the completion of trade qualifications in an event hosted by director general Marco Forgione and opened by City of London mayor Michael Mainelli.
Other dates in the diary
Monday – IMF/World Bank annual meetings begin
Tuesday – European Parliament vote on €35bn loan to Ukraine
Wednesday – UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport 2024
Thursday – G20 finance ministers meet in Washington DC
Friday – Final Office for Budget Responsibility pre-UK Budget forecast round
Saturday – Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey addresses G30 Banking Seminar
Sunday – Elections in Bulgaria and Uruguay
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