Luna Global Networks Highlights Importance of Transformative Technologies and BlockChain to Fight Illicit Trade

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 4, David M. Luna, President & CEO, Luna Global Networks & Convergence Strategies LLC provided opening remarks at the China Global Trade Development Week (GTDW) held in Shanghai, China and chaired the "Brand Protection: Anti-Illicit Trade" (AIT) Workshop. At the workshop, Mr. Luna highlighted how illicit trade poses many harms across the international community.

Numerous international organizations have estimated that today's global illicit markets, and various forms of "convergence crime", account for several trillions of U.S. dollars every year, to include the trafficking of drugs, people (especially women and children), arms, counterfeit and pirated goods, illegal cigarettes and alcohol products, endangered wildlife, pillaged natural resources, and many other illicit commodities, corrupt proceeds and illicit financial flows.

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 online shopping and cybercrime also present a threat to companies and consumers alike. A recent report estimates that the financial costs from cybercrime will double from $US 3 trillion in 2015 to $US 6 trillion by 2021.

In addition to dis-incentivizing innovation and economic damages, Mr. Luna underscored "the 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 also poses grave dangers to public health and safety."

Illicit trade also has direct impacts on our communities when we realize that close to 40 million people are trafficked or in modern slavery (including millions of children in forced labor); or when communities are increasingly harmed every day from counterfeit medicines, tainted or contaminated food stuff, or when defective automotive and other illicit consumer products kill tens of thousands of people every year, if not more.

Diversion, counterfeiting and smuggling of many of today's leading brands are very lucrative for criminals -- and in some cases, terrorist groups: it is a low-risk, high-reward business.

Mr. Luna said that he is "a big proponent of finding innovative ways to leverage transformative technologies to combat today's transnational threats."

Anti-counterfeiting strategies and brand protection technologies such as track and trace can help to pinpoint supply chain strengths, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities, criminal exploitation, and brand diversion in cyberspace or in retail stores.

"I also believe blockchain technology is potentially a game-changer across industries to more effectively counter illicit trade and other threats," said Luna.

"This is why we have added blockchain and other important technologies – such as those being advanced by Chronicled Inc., I-Trace Technologies, and the Asia-Pacific Model E-Port Network Operational Center [APEC APMEN China] – to our GTDW AIT agenda to help communities stop fakes, deadly medicines or other harmful products from entering global supply chains, or to address product diversion from distribution systems."

At the July 4 GTDW Anti-Illicit Trade Alliance Workshop, Sam Radocchia, co-founder/CMO of Chronicled Inc., was one of the featured speakers and presented on how top illicit markets are becoming larger every day, and how blockchain can help curb illicit trade and promote smart supply chain solutions because of its ability to create unique identities for individual items. In advance of her GTDW AIT event, Ms. Radocchia and Mr. Luna also collaborated on a series of recent articles on ways to harness blockchain to fight illicit trade globally, including, "Combating Illicit Markets With Blockchain: Smart Supply Chains Solutions". Ms. Radocchia's latest article which highlights her GTDW AIT presentation can be found at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/samantharadocchia/2018/07/03/combating-illicit-markets-with-blockchain-smart-supply-chains-solutions/#321ee72e1e1d

Transformative technologies such as advanced analytics, network mapping, and data visualization are also very powerful tools that can help law enforcement communities and industries to identify emerging trends and patterns to anticipate threats, to target specific illicit hubs, and to investigate bad actors engaged in various cross-border trafficking crimes.

Mr. Luna concluded: "Strategic alliances across sectors and industries can be a powerful voice and unifying force to more effectively fight illicit trade across borders, markets, and FTZs. With such coordinated energies, transformative and innovative technologies, and public-private partnerships, we can do more together to tackle these converging illicit harms and security threats including through our new Anti-Illicit Trade Alliance (AITA) in strategic markets."

Luna Global Networks and KW Group are partnering with the GTDW Advisory Council to bring together action-oriented public and private sector leaders and doers from around the world to advance smart supply chain solutions through strategic alliances on the critical nexus between innovation and investment, and market integrity as part of the Global Trade Development Week (GTDW) Summit series. 

Luna Global Networks is also honored to be partnering with United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) on a new Dialogue at the Palais des Nations in Geneva (Switzerland) on UNICRI's SIRIO program, and partnerships with the hi-tech sector and other interested industries and communities to combat illicit trade and transnational security threats by harnessing and leveraging innovative technologies such as blockchain.

Luna Global Networks will chair the new GTDW Anti-Illicit Trade (AIT) Alliance that will bring new energies and attention to the harms and costs posed by illicit trade globally including in strategic markets such as China, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and other vibrant economies in 2018-2020. The next GTDW AITA Rountable and meetings will be in Abu Dhabi November 20-22, and AITA II Dialogue and Workshop in China in 2019.

Find Mr. Luna's Opening Statement @ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/strategic-alliances-fighting-illicit-trade-across-david-m-.

You can learn more about Luna Global Networks at https://lunaglobalnetworks.com

A Strategic Advantage: Luna Global Networks is an international security consultancy well-positioned to help businesses and NGOs tackle among the most pressing illicit trade and governance challenges and related security threats across borders, markets, and industries through convergence strategies and tactical plans that target an illicit threat environment more holistically; net-centric partnerships (a network of networks) that harness collective action through strategic alliances; and the designing of pragmatic training to counter illicit trade, leveraging of innovative net-centric capabilities, and the harnessing of transformative technologies that help produce greater results and more enduring solutions.

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