Question

Trade is an essential item​

Answer 1

Answer:

ʏᴇs

1. ᴄᴏᴢ ɪᴛ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀᴛᴇ ɪɴᴄᴏᴍᴇ.
2. ɢᴅᴘ ɢʀᴏᴛʜ
3. ᴘʀᴏғɪᴛ ᴍᴀxɪᴍɪsᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
4. ɪɴᴛᴇʀɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ʀᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
5. ᴇᴛᴄᴇᴛᴇʀᴀ

Answer 2

In remarks delivered to the 2020 Havencongres Rotterdam on 29 September, Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff said relying on international trade is the most efficient and economical choice for governments seeking to ensure access to essential supplies in a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed some of the fragilities inherent to value chains and economic interdependence, DDG Wolff said, but it has also shown that trade plays a central role in maintaining the availability of goods and services. His remarks are below.

Thank you Mr. Roelof Hemmen.

Good morning.

I am pleased to join you today to look at how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the future of trade.

It is fitting that the Dutch trade community has organized this debate. Dutch sailors and merchants have been at the forefront of global trade for centuries. My father imported goods from the Netherlands into the United States over 50 years ago. As long as there is someone looking for goods to move from one part of the world for the benefit of both the producer and the consumer, you will do well.

Over the millennia, the ways goods, services, ideas and people have crossed borders has changed almost beyond recognition. One recent example: I am currently speaking to you from Switzerland via an internet platform that few of us were familiar with when this year began.

But the Netherlands has kept up with the times. Rotterdam’s port is an example of that adaptability. Having first emerged as a major transhipment hub in the 17th century, it ranked as Europe's largest freight port in 2018(1), and is among the top 12 globally(2).

The forces transforming the global economy have also transformed the port of Rotterdam. It was an early adopter of containerization and automation — with benefits for this entire continent and those that lie beyond the oceans.. In the face of climate change, the port has set for itself the target of carbon neutrality — while putting into place state-of-the-art storm surge barriers against the threat of rising sea levels.

Like the rest of the global economy, the port has also been affected by Covid-19. Rotterdam’s throughput in the first six months of 2020 was 9.1% less than in the first half of 2019(3). This is in line with new WTO data suggesting that global merchandise trade volumes in the second quarter of 2020 were 14.3% lower than a year before.