Chile, New Zealand and Singapore virtually signed a Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), considered athis is the first pact of its kind in the world.
The agreement arose from the common interest in benefiting smaller economies, through a friendly framework for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies, detailed this Thursday (11.06.2020) the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile in a release.
In this way, the The agreement promotes the export of products and services of these companies through the regulation of matters such as the free flow of data and non-discrimination in digital products, artificial intelligence, digital identity and privacy, among others.
The signatories of the agreement, in a virtual ceremony, were the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile, Teodoro Ribera; the Minister of Commerce of New Zealand, David Parker; and the Minister of Commerce and Industry of Singapore, Chan Chun Sing.
Ribera noted that this agreement represents a ""a great milestone in times of uncertainty", as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the integration of digital services, solutions, tools and products, driving the global transition towards a digital economy.
«The global crisis has forced us to seek advanced and innovative solutions to overcome the challenges our economies face: economic recovery, employment, competitiveness and productivity, among others. In this regard, the DEPA represents a new form of economic integration in the digital era., Ribera said.
"The agreement establishes new rules for digital trade, promoting cooperation in new areas and fostering interoperability between our systems," the Chilean foreign minister added.
For his part, the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, Rodrigo Yáñez, pointed out that digital trade will be the driving force of the global economy in the coming decades and international economic relations must rise to the challenge.
"This agreement seeks to provide more opportunities to our entrepreneurs, supporting the existence of an Internet without discrimination, open and global that acts as a catalyst for creativity and innovation," said Yáñez.
The undersecretary added that today there are New digital products that have become the objects of international trade, such as music, software, ebooks, video games that "They must be strengthened by a regulatory framework that encourages their international expansion, so that anyone with a good business idea and an Internet connection can reach any part of the world."
Today, ICT represents 34% of Chile's services exports, compared to 24% in 2010, making it the most important sector in intangible exports, according to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
These are found in sectors as diverse as website hosting, software licensing, information processing, internet maintenance and repair, application development, among others.
In this way, in 2019 Chilean exports of ICT services totaled US$ 430 million, which were carried out through 211 companies, 114 of which are SMEs, whose developments reached more than 120 markets, led by the United States, Peru and Colombia.
Source: Efe
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