I feel strongly that we should leverage our competitive advantage as the key producer to ensure the success of our futures market. Our main producers should be able to play an active role in the determination of the world prices – that is; AFET prices should be used as the world’s benchmark. I believe we are well-placed to achieve that goal. Ladies and Gentlemen, Now it is time to channel our energy and effort into making AFET a successful futures market for agricultural products, especially in the international arena. The next key question then is “How”? This task is indeed a challenge and if we all agree on this part, I think the best approach is for us to focus on one product at a time. I propose that AFET conduct an in-depth study into each of the products currently listed on the exchange and evaluate their chances of success. AFET can then prioritise whether they should first concentrate on smoked rubber sheet, block rubber, tapioca starch or white rice. Commodity Trading normally involves reference prices based on a certain futures exchange. For instance, market participants prefer to use futures prices from the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange as a reference for white sugar while benchmark prices for rubber products are currently determined in the Tokyo Commodity Exchange and Singapore Commodity  BIS Review 14/2006  1  Exchange. It is worth noting that there are no well-established reference prices for white rice just yet.
The agreement for a minimum corporate tax rate for multinational enterprises, spurred by the G20 with the OECD’s invaluable support and ratified by more than 130 countries that account for more the 90% of world GDP, is a good example of the benefits that international cooperation can generate in the digital era. Furthermore, supply issues, which have led to shortages and strains on prices during both the pandemic and now the war in Ukraine, strengthen the case for boosting international cooperation. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund concluded that these supply issues should not lead us to lessen our economic openness. On the contrary, its analyses point to the international diversification of imports and improved substitutability of the sources of inputs from different countries to boost value chains’ resilience. Signing new bilateral and multilateral trade agreements and strengthening pre-existing ones, which would afford greater certainty to trade relations while reducing their cost, would also help attain this goal. To conclude, I believe that, by sharing experiences and outlooks, fora such as this one help gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that we, the economic and monetary authorities, must face. I hope that you are able to benefit fully from the discussions held over the coming days and wish you a pleasant stay in Seville. 2