Emerging technologies known as “Trade Tech” are a key part of supply chain resilience and more efficient and inclusive trade. But to harness their full potential, international policy coordination through public-private partnerships is needed. This is one of the conclusions of a new publication launched last week (12.04.2022) by the World Trade Organization and the World Economic Forum.
The report titled “The promise of trade technology: policy approaches to harnessing trade digitization“outlines the potential of artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Noting the positive trade effects of these private sector-driven technologies, the report finds that there is an urgent need for trade policymaking as regulatory fragmentation could result in uneven growth, cybersecurity threats and a growing trend towards techno-nationalism.
The biggest challenge is the coordination of international policies through public-private partnerships to promote global adoption of TradeTech and trade scalability. To this end, the role of trade agreementsSince 2010, regional trade initiatives have explored the interplay between technology and trade. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement covers a broader range of e-commerce issues. So do the Singapore-Australia Agreement and the Chile-New Zealand-Singapore Agreement.
Despite these ongoing efforts, the report says that “many opportunities remain untapped.” Contributions from the public and private sectors, and from civil society, shed light on this area through five specific policies that would allow the adoption of the TradeTech globally in an inclusive way. To know:
- G1 Global data transmission and accountability frameworks
- G2 The global legal recognition of electronic transactions and documents
- G3 Global Digital Identity
- G4 Global interoperability of data models for business documents and platforms
- G5 Access to global trade rules and computer law.
The report also refers to closing the "digital divide" and developing communications infrastructure and wireless technologies to enable continuous connectivity in emerging technologies.
Finally, the publication says that one of the reasons the trade policy world is missing out is that technologies give rise to issues that cut across different ministries, regulators and stakeholders that do not intersect with traditional trade (e.g. antitrust, data governance, cybersecurity, privacy, enforcement, platform responsibilities, digital taxation).
To this end, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala encouraged policymakers to consider global coordination. “Emerging technologies have the potential to make trade more efficient and inclusive, but for this to happen, policy action must keep pace with technological advances,” she concluded.
The post is based on the Call to Action «Trade for Tomorrow» presented by both organizations in 2021, to take trade to a new speed that includes everyone.- (Report “The promise of TradeTech: policy approaches to harnessing the digitalisation of trade”)
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