Luna Global Networks, https://lunaglobalnetworks.com/ , was proud to work with partners across the international community to launch an anti-illicit trade alliance, to strengthen networks and find innovative ways to help protect our economies, markets, and communities against the harms and impacts posed by the global illegal economy.

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The Fundamental Transformation of Illicit Trade NecessitatesNet-Centric
Partnerships and Strategic Alliances
David M. Luna
President & CEO, Luna Global Networks & Convergence Strategies LLC
Global Development Trade Week (GTDW)
Chair, GTDW Anti-Illicit Trade and Brand Protection Summit
Abu Dhabi, UAE
20 November 2018
Good morning.
Your Excellencies, H.E. Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori (Minister of Economy, UAE), H.E.
Secretary-General Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development,
UNCTAD), Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is an honor to be chairing today’s GTDW Anti-Illicit Trade & Brand Protection Summit.
Let me thank Andrew Keable and Michelle Wong, KW Group, and the Global Trade
Development Week (GTDW) Advisory Council for organizing this week’s event in Abu Dhabi,
as well as the Ministry of Economy and our committed sponsors for their leadership and support.
At our last GTDW Anti-Illicit Trade workshop in Shanghai, Luna Global Networks was proud to
work with some of the partners that are here today to launch an anti-illicit trade alliance, to
strengthen networks and find innovative ways to help protect our economies, markets, and
communities against the harms and impacts posed by the global illegal economy.
We recognized that illicit trade is a threat multiplier that can impede broader economic and
national security objectives including our collective efforts to fight corruption, organized crime,
and terrorism.
Since that time, Luna Global Networks has continued to work with many champions across
regions, sectors, and industries to harness the requisite energies to strengthen cross-border
cooperation to address today’s fundamental transformation of illicit trade, through a network of
networks where dynamic collaborations, strategic alliances, and collective action are helping to
elevate our shared resolve to more effectively combat illicit markets.
For the reality is that no one economy or industry is immune from illicit trade and convergence
crime.
And as some of our speakers will highlight at our conference this week, the global illegal
economy is indeed booming and growing significantly every year.
Numerous international organizations have estimated that today's global illicit markets, and
various forms of “convergence crime”, account for several trillions of US dollars every year, to
include the trafficking of drugs, humans, arms, counterfeit and pirated goods, illegal cigarettes

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and alcohol products, endangered wildlife, pillaged natural resources, and many other illicit
commodities, corrupt proceeds and illicit financial flows.
This is simply a staggering amount and a menacing threat to our public health and safety.
Fake water (bottles) and foodstuff add a heightened public human security dimension, as do
counterfeit medicines, auto parts, and other illegal fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) that are
toxic and deadly.
Of equal concern is not only the current breadth and scale of today’s illicit markets, but that
many of them will double within five years’ time alone, and the fact that criminals are
diversifying their illicit portfolio to finance other threats.
Building on the work of the OECD and its Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade, in a 2017
report by the International Chamber of Commerce’s Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and
Piracy (BASCAP) and the International Trademark Association (INTA), it is projected that the
global economic value of counterfeit and pirated goods alone will reach close to $3 trillion by
2022.
Internet on-line shopping and cybercrime also present a threat to companies and consumers alike.
As U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has underscored, the financial costs from
cybercrime will double from $US 3 trillion in 2015 to $US 6 trillion by 2021. (Source:
Cybersecurity Ventures)
In addition to dis-incentivizing innovation and causing economic damages, other impacts include
reputational harm, stolen data, lost productivity, theft of intellectual property, and other costs.
Illicit trade not only results in lost profits for companies, job displacements for workers, business
closures, economic hardships for governments when less revenue is brought into the treasuries to
fund public services, but that it also poses grave dangers to public health and safety as I just
underscored.
Finally, as was discussed at our China GTDW Summit in Shanghai earlier this year, Free Trade
Zones can have a “catalytic effect” on economies, including attracting Foreign Direct Investment
and helping to expand economic growth.
But in too many parts of the world, FTZs are also exploited on a daily basis by some to facilitate
illicit activities that produce broader market reputational harm and put the physical security of
many communities in danger.
As we will hear shortly from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and TRACIT, the misuse of
illicit trade and associated criminality in one FTZ can have serious security ripple effects in other
FTZs all around the world.
Such connectivity and convergence between the world’s various free trade zones help to create a
bigger cross-border threat altogether as some reports have underscored.

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For example, when payments for counterfeits being trafficked through FTZs in the Gulf region
from China and on to Africa may eventually wind up in another FTZ in Panama or Europe,
where they then help to fund other types of illegal activity, be it more illicit trade or other forms
of criminality and terrorism.
Illicit cigarettes are another illicit trade that helps to fuel corruption, expand organized crime, and
finance terrorism and greater insecurity and instability.
With the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (the “Protocol”) taking effect
earlier this year, it can be an important tool to disrupt and dismantle all forms of illicit trade
across source, transit, and demand markets.
Towards this end, countries must sign and ratify the Protocol to address the cross-border
challenges posed today by illicit networks and commit to be part of a global enforcement regime
to tackle the illegal tobacco trade globally.
So what more can we do about these harms and threats?
As the new Chair of the Anti-Illicit Trade (AIT) Committee of the United States Council for
International Business (USCIB), our members are committed to fight these wicked threats in all
parts of the world.
Today, the USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable
development and corporate responsibility.
Our members include some of the biggest and most iconic American brands, global companies
and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every
region of the world, generating $5 trillion in annual revenues and employing over 11 million
people worldwide.
As the American affiliate in the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD and
the International Chamber of Commerce, for example, our USCIB AIT Committee looks forward
to working with other strategic alliances to harness and support public-private partnerships and a
global coalition to fight illicit trade, and for more secure, sustainable trade and integrity in
markets, supply chains, and institutions across the international community.
Through such collaborative efforts including here this week in the Abu Dhabi, we can do more
together to combat illicit trade at all levels across global security landscapes.
We too can learn immensely from our UAE partners from their economic policies that promote
innovation to modern and smart policing and enforcement that are innovative such as the UAE
approach to cybercrime as Interpol Secretary-General Jürgen Stock underscored a few days ago
in Dubai.
I am confident that our keynote speakers will inspire us and outline further ways and ideas to
strengthen our joint resolve and through responsibility-focused partnerships, enhanced

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coordinated courses of action, and the leveraging of strategic alliances across borders, markets,
and communities.
I will share some final thoughts at the end of our Day 1 conference this afternoon based on the
outstanding roster of speaker’s that will help inform our discussion.
Without further ado, it is an honor to invite our first keynote speaker, His Excellency, Sultan bin
Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of the Economy.
In addition to his position as Minister of Economy, His Excellency Sultan holds numerous
prominent and distinguished leadership positions in various high-level Committees and Boards
with the UAE Government concerning matters related to Economic Cooperation, Investment,
Securities, and Finance.
May I now invite H.E. Dr.Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNTAD) to take the floor for his address.
Dr. Kituyi is a former Member of Parliament in Kenya, and Minister of Trade and Industry, and
prior to becoming the 7th Secretary-General of UNCTAD, he was the Chief Executive of the
Kenya Institute of Governance.
Our next keynote speakers will add valued insights and perspectives on the importance of public-
private partnerships and need for collective action across markets:
Tarkan Demirbas, Vice President for Middle East, Philip Morris International (PMI).
Malek Hannouf, Chairman, Gulf Brand Owners Protection Group, (BPG), and Head of
Intellectual Property Department, Middle East & Africa, Louis Vuitton (LV).
(End of Opening High-Level Session)
Earlier this year, The 2018 Global Illicit Trade Environment Index was released. The Index was
commissioned by the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT), and produced by
the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as means for the international community to address illicit
trade by evaluating 84 countries on their structural capability to guard against illicit trade,
highlighting specific strengths and weaknesses.
This morning the EIU and TRACIT will walk us through this very important Index and tool, and
share some additional perspectives and policy recommendations on fighting illicit trade based
on these surveys. As well as a specific report related to the Index for the Middle East.
We are honored to have with us this morning:
Chris Clague is the Managing Editor, and Global Editorial Leader, Trade and Globalization:
THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT (EIU):

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Jeff Hardy is the Director General, TRACIT: Before joining TRACIT, he served as the Director
of the ICC BASCAP initiative, where he united the global business community to fight illicit
trade in the forms of trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy. During 18 years with ICC,
Jeff also led ICC’s work on G20, climate change, SME and sustainable development portfolios.

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