Washington, D.C.—NFTC’s Global Innovation Forum (GIF) released a new report that explores the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic for the World Trade Organization (WTO) e-commerce agenda.
The report, Lessons From COVID-19 For E-Commerce, features digital trade lessons from six sectors of the e-commerce ecosystem including, customs and trade facilitation, financial services, communications and productivity, e-commerce platforms, research and development, and additive manufacturing. By illustrating the impact from COVID-19, the report emphasizes the critical role of digitally-enabled trade in promoting small business resilience.
It identifies policy takeaways for the WTO’s Joint Statement Initiative on E-Commerce and urges countries to act quickly to create an enabling framework for global e-commerce by finalizing an ambitious WTO agreement.
In conjunction with the WTO JSI on E-Commerce, GIF hosted a virtual event to present the lessons learned and recommendations for how governments can utilize public policy to reduce barriers for global small businesses and enable economic recovery. Private-sector experts from critical industries presented how key components of the e-commerce ecosystem have fared under pressure as businesses and individuals adopt digital tools and engage in e-commerce to an unprecedented extent.
Lessons From COVID-19 For E-Commerce can be downloaded at https://globalinnovationforum.com/reports/lessons-from-covid-19/
About the Global Innovation Forum
The Global Innovation Forum is a nonprofit effort to connect startup, small business, development, and university communities with policymakers and select corporations to explore the opportunities and challenges of engaging in the global marketplace. GIF serves as a hub for business, university and development communities around the world to communicate with officials and corporations, discover public and private resources to help them succeed, and improve the public policy landscape to enable global innovation. GIF is a project of the 501(c)(3) National Foreign Trade Council Foundation.