Lunch Seminar: Servicification – Why Free Trade in Services Matters to Manufacturing
The competitiveness of EU manufacturing is increasingly dependent on services. Logistics, maintenance, consulting, financing and data processing are integral part of any competitive offering in technology, machinery, processing and consumer businesses. Efficient services consumed by the manufacturing companies in their daily operations are also an integral part of their competitiveness. Services provided and consumed by EU manufacturing contribute to a significant share of their incomes. Services have transformed the way goods are traded while digitalisation has turned many goods into services – a concept we call servicification.
Admittedly, free trade in services has been difficult to achieve. However, the most recent FTA negotiations start to change that picture, and furthermore this year has highlighted several new opportunities, in particular the negotiations for the FTAs with US and Japan, or the plurilateral negotiations on TISA (Trade in Services Agreement, formerly known as the ISA). It is surprising therefore that the manufacturing companies do not contribute more to essential negotiations that might set up the scene for the potential earing sources.
Business Europe, ECIPE and the European Services Forum (ESF) have the pleasure to invite you to a workshop on servicification, or why services trade matters to EU manufacturing.
– How does the market access for goods depend on openness on services?
– What are the policy implications of servicification, and which services barriers should be in focus?
– What could the new major FTAs deliver for EU manufacturing, especially in terms of services liberalisation?
Speakers:
Adrian van den Hoven, Deputy Director General, BusinessEurope
The meeting is chaired by Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, Director of ECIPE
A light lunch will be served
Location
