Policy Workshop on e-Commerce Development in CAREC

On 28 May 2020, the CAREC Institute has delivered a policy workshop, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), ADB Institute, and Shanghai National Accounting Institute (SNAI), targeting senior CAREC government officials involved in e-commerce development in their respective countries.

The workshop aimed at presenting and discussing policy options bred from a joint research by the CAREC Institute and ADB on e-commerce development in CAREC, and promotion of e-commerce as a viable instrument for trade and commerce to enhance economic cooperation. In addition, ADBI and SNAI recent research findings on the positive impacts of e-commerce on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the Covid-19, and Chinese experiences and practices for e-payment system for e-commerce were presented and discussed during the workshop.

While the Covid-19 epidemic has halted and shattered many socio-economic activity platforms in the physical world, e-commerce has emerged as the resilient force to not only defy the pandemic but also to facilitate various vital economic activities for individuals, societies, governments, and interested economic entities in the virtual world. Although the importance and potential of e-commerce is well understood in CAREC, and it has been expanding, its full development and utilization is hampered due to lack of compatible and comprehensive legal basis. These differences can cause inefficiencies and barriers to trade and commerce.

The participating experts and government officials discussed the issues of harmonization, compatibility, risks, lessons, best practices, and conditions for creating the enabling environment for e-commerce at the scale of regional cooperation to maximize economic benefits. The workshop proceedings report will be shared in upcoming newsletters.

The workshop materials are available here: https://www.adb.org/news/events/regulatory-frameworks-ecommerce-development-carec-region