The pandemic has highly impacted the global economy and the GDP of the Commonwealth nations.  As a consequence, the trade and supply activities also got disrupted.  The import and export activities faced significant challenges, which further affected the social and economic condition of the commonwealth countries during Covid-19.  

Commonwealth nations lost trade worth US$345 billion approximately during 2020, which included $60 billion in the context of intra-commonwealth trade. All the Commonwealth members have been affected with a fall in FDI inflows that resulted in a loss of around US$153 billion (The Commonwealth, 2021). 

It is also reported that there is a reduction in the export of goods in the international provinces like China. GVC contagion influenced the Chinese exports, reducing by 40-45% during 2020 to prevent the spreading of the Corona Virus (Khorana et al., 2020). . However, it had a highly adverse impact on the economy and trade.  Moreover, it is also observed that there is drop in the demand for several international goods due to the restriction and policies by the Government to prevent the spreading of Covid-19. Hence, bilateral trade growth is also influenced due to disruptions in supply and demand. High scale of output losses in the emerging markets has also influenced the Foreign Direct Investment during the pandemic. As a result, the overall trade scenario is affected with the domestic traders exposed to high vulnerability.  

In context of recovery, expansion of merchandised trade can be a prospect for quick recovery of world trade. It is expected that merchandise trade in the global platform would increase by 8.0% in 2021 (World Trade Organization, 2021).  Ramping up the production of vaccines and delivering them to poor countries would further help to improve the trade scenario as supply chain and business activities would be active once again. Moreover, the members can internally support one another to overcome the issues in export and trade.                                                                                

The Commonwealth states can recover from the negative impacts on the trade by adopting technology and digital tools. The members can focus on mutual support and offer benefits by taking initiatives like Blue Charter, Commonwealth’s Connectivity Agenda and Sustainable Energy Transition Agenda for trade recovery (The Commonwealth, 2021).      

Integrating ICT in the business infrastructure can be effective for the Commonwealth nations to improve the trade activities. Digitisation is correlated to labour productivity and can have a positive influence on the economy and poverty-related policies (Ashton-Hart, 2020). Besides, changes in the Supply chains along with taking up digital technology in the businesses offers good scope for enhancing traders. Global value chains can also be accessed as they are a good source for communication and enhancing trade growth in domestic and global platforms. Previously, in 2017, only 45% of the Commonwealth members had access to digital technology and the internet. However, at present, there is high scope for accessing the internet and communication technology by the members with the purpose of online trades.  

The Commonwealth (2018.) Blue economy, The Commonwealth. [Online] Available at: https://thecommonwealth.org/blue-economy [Accessed 28 December 2021].
 

The Commonwealth (2021). Commonwealth countries target inclusive shift to clean energy, The Commonwealth. [Online] Available at: https://thecommonwealth.org/media/news/commonwealth-countries-target-inclusive-shift-clean-energy [Accessed 28 December 2021]. 

The Commonwealth, (2021). Connectivity Agenda | The Commonwealth. [Online]. Available at: https://thecommonwealth.org/connectivity-agenda. [Accessed 28 December 2021] 

The Commonwealth Blue Charter, (2021). About us – Commonwealth Bluecharter. [Online] Available at: https://bluecharter.thecommonwealth.org/about-us/. [Accessed 28 December 2021]