Bali trade treaty ‘must be signed’, says BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie

BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has warned that the Bali trade agreement must be implemented.

Andrew Mackenzie during the B20 summit in Sydney this week.

BHP Billiton chief executive ­Andrew Mackenzie has warned that if the Bali trade agreement is not implemented the whole multilateral international trade agenda could be in jeopardy.

With India threatening not to sign the Bali agreement, Mr ­Mackenzie said: “I think if Bali is not implemented then the WTO process and the Doha round is in even more trouble than it was ­before the Bali agreement was reached.”

The Bali agreement, which ­involves countries promising to streamline the flow of goods through borders, faces its first deadline at the end of the month. But India is threatening not to sign up because of its grain-stockpiling program.

“It is absolutely critical to kick-start progress and rejoin progress towards greater free trade around the world,” Mr Mackenzie said.

The BHP chief headed a B20 trade taskforce that delivered recommendations it said could boost trade by $3 trillion and ­create 50 million jobs.

The taskforce said implementing the Bali agreement could ­increase trade by about $1 trillion. The other two-thirds of the available benefits could be produced by “country-specific supply-chain strategies” that addressed barriers to the creation of international ­supply chains.

Mr Mackenzie said that if governments embraced domestic ­reform and infrastructure investment they could boost growth. Governments did not have to do everything but pick one or two major non-tariff barriers to tackle that get in the way of local free trade.

Speaking yesterday before a meeting of trade ministers in Sydney today, he said a bright light needed to be shone on the G20 agreement not to introduce ­protectionist measures. While tariffs had not risen, many countries had introduced non-tariff barriers since the agreement.

Mr Mackenzie said trade had fallen 5 per cent in the developed world since the start of the global financial crisis. Governments needed courage to tackle reform but the long-term benefit would be to spur growth and create jobs.