As economies the world over take stock of the devastation caused by Covid-19, the World Trade Organization (WTO) says that now is the time for all global players to exchange information on lessons learnt about mobility restrictions and trade to foster greater resilience in the face of future crises.
“Covid-induced mobility barriers have had a devastating impact on trade in goods due to their effect on transport services - and international cooperation has a potentially important role to play in minimising their economic impact,” the WTO says in a recent information paper.
“This could help identify options to implement travel measures that meet public health protection objectives while producing the least trade-distortive effects.
“International trade and investment have always relied on the cross-border mobility of individuals – and while several members have now replaced initial sweeping travel with more fine-tuned policies aimed at allowing the movement of “essential” foreign workers, or creating “travel bubbles” permitting quarantine-free mobility among partners, restarting international mobility is unlikely to proceed in a linear fashion.”
Given the cross-border spill-overs resulting from measures affecting transnational mobility, a case can be made for supplementing domestic action with international cooperative efforts, the WTO says.