ICC Brasil Broadens Discussion on AI, Blockchain and Trade at WTO Summit

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Summit taking place in Buenos Aires this week holds intense debates on the future of technology and trade.

One of the leading efforts is ‘ITTI – Intelligent Tech & Trade Initiative’, a multimedia project launched by ICC Brasil last September at the WTO Public Forum in Geneva.

For Daniel Feffer, chairman of ICC Brasil and ITTI, the initiative “shows how blockchain and augmented intelligence (AI) bring about innovative approaches for transactions and negotiations to advance”.

ITTI fosters interactions comprising the technology community, trade negotiators, business leaders, and scholars.

“When we gather such stakeholders, there’s a bigger chance for a constructive tech-intensive trade agenda”, says Marcos Troyjo, ITTI’s director.

In Buenos Aires, ITTI is pursuing a threefold approach. There is a seminar in association with ICTSD on Wednesday, December 13, at 9:00 am local time.

Speakers include Daniel Feffer (ICC-Brasil, ITTI), Rebecca Liao (Skuchain), Jan Hoffman (UNCTAD), Daniel Godinho (WEG, ICC-Brasil), Stella Loiacono (IBM), Marcos Troyjo (Columbia University, ITTI) and Gabriel Petrus (ICC-Brasil, ITTI).

There is also the release of a Discussion Paper and a Video Documentary titled ‘Building ITTI’. Both review hypotheses on how both positively and negatively blockchain and AI will impact trade.

The works highlight considerations on SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) & LDCs (less developed countries) and present “Opportunities x Roadblocks” equations in technology, business, and policymaking.

In blockchain, such focus is to be found in items like “Trust”, “Origin and Provenance”, “Payments and Financing”, “Production & Supply Chains” and a look into cross-sectoral challenges when developing applications.

In AI, ‘Building ITTI’ puts forward four conceptual approaches:

• B2T (Business to Trade): how companies can enhance trade operations through AI and how it may level the playing field for SMEs.
• C2T (Country to Trade): how nations can expand their competitive advantages and use AI tools to draw scenarios on alternative policy decisions.
• N2T (Negotiator to Trade): how structured access to cloud-based resources can make life easier for trade negotiators.
• M2T (Multilateral to Trade): multilateral trade officers may weigh pros and cons of alternative scenarios through AI’s predictive potential.

ITTI’s Discussion Paper also addresses relations between AI and infrastructure investment and political economy considerations on how to select AI curators when establishing parameters.

In thinking forward, it proposes a number of “App Tracks”, a set of “next steps-like” summarized inputs that deal with the most important technological, diplomatic, regulatory and business challenges we must consider in developing trade-related blockchain and AI applications.