APEC workshop seeks to harness digital trade for SMEs
The APEC workshop on harnessing digital trade for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is underway in Hanoi, aiming to realise one of Vietnam’s initiatives during APEC Year 2017 on facilitating trans-border e-commerce.
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| Illustrative image (Source: EPA) |
Lai Viet Anh, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency, said SMEs account for nearly 97 percent of the total in APEC and are well-positioned to cope with challenges in e-commerce.
An eBay data showed that SMEs using digital platform earn export revenues over five times higher than their peers with traditional method. However, a majority of SMEs are yet to effectively tap such opportunities.
Ho Thi To Uyen from the agency said diverse and asynchronous legal framework among economies has pushed up business costs.
She suggested harmonising domestic and international law to ensure compatibility in legal regulations among countries and protect users’ privacy.
In order to deal with disputes in e-commerce, she called for building a sustainable online platform to address them as well as raising SMEs and consumers’ awareness about new regulations and policies on e-commerce and digital trade.
At the January 17-18 workshop, participants shared experience and lessons to clear barriers to refining legal regulations in the field, and offered recommendations to APEC to continue stepping up e-commerce in the region.
