best take action in these areas. thank you for your attention. 1 this work covers issues such as collateral mobility and cross - border interoperability ( i. e. collateral messages, workflows, cut - off times, settlement cycles, etc. ). 2 with regard to the conflict of law issue, the ecb welcomes the commission ’ s “ legislative initiative ” to determine with legal certainty which national law should apply to security ownership. the ecb will contribute to the forthcoming public consultation with a view to strengthening the legal environment for cross - border settlement services. with regard to the withholding tax procedures, the eurosystem welcomes the commission ’ s announcement that a code of conduct on withholding tax procedures will be published in 2017. the ami seco predecessor – t2s advisory group – has contributed substantially to the work of the commission in analysing the possible harmonisation on withholding tax procedures and stands ready to further contribute to this work, if required. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

and conditions of living. it has enabled all nations to produce on a higher efficiency scale. it has helped increase productivity. it has allowed the instant spread of knowledge and ideas so that the range of choices available to consumers has expanded continuously. trade and globalization have without doubt brought enormous benefits to many countries and citizens of the world. we might disagree on the exact modalities and the sequencing of trade and tariff reforms, but few of us would dispute that international trade has been a major driver of global economic growth since the end of the second world war. trade expansion boosted post - war economic recovery in the leading economies of today ; germany and japan are notable examples that come to mind. it figures large in the “ growth miracles ” of the asian tigers, mauritius, but also china! but this has not happened without those countries facing their own crises. the impact of the crisis on trade finance today we are facing the worst economic crisis in generations and this crisis is threatening to undo the economic development that many countries have achieved so far. undoubtedly world trade has been one of the worst casualties in the global financial crisis. this is even threatening to “ erode people ’ s faith in an open international trading system. ” the negative impact on world trade finds its way through two main channels. first the credit crunch resulting from the financial market turbulences has led to a fall in the supply of trade finance, which has rightly been described as the oil of the wheels of international trade ; and secondly the spillover of the financial crisis into the real economy has caused the worst recession since the great depression and fuelled a contraction of trade volumes. and those of us who believe in open trade almost as an article of faith, have watched with growing disbelief as the threat of protectionism started to rear its ugly head. as economic activity collapsed and unemployment soared in many countries, protectionist sentiment has risen along with the attraction of other trade - distorting policies. many countries have implemented domestic stimulus packages aimed at protecting their businesses and industries, favouring domestic goods and services sometimes at the expense of imports. policy - makers are perfectly aware that such policy actions have international implications – in the short term they can boost domestic demand but in the long term, they undermine the international trading system and global wealth and welfare. outlook for world trade for 2009 if we look at the prospects for world trade for 2009, we see that the world bank has predicted that the volume of world trade in goods and services will decrease by around 6 percent.