With a special focus on the implications for developing countries, Unctad's E-Commerce week will be held in Geneva on April 24-28 with the theme 'Towards Inclusive E-Commerce', reports UNB. Over 600 delegates representing 65 countries will attend and speak during the E-commerce Week.
High-level representatives from eBay, Etsy, FedEx, Jumia, Huawei, Kapruka, PayPal, Ringier, TCS Holdings, Vodafone and other e-commerce businesses will be speaking at the conference and engaging with government representatives and civil society. The 3rd edition of Unctad's E-Commerce Week comes at a crucial moment where many governments are analysing the impact of the digital economy and e-commerce on global growth. E-commerce is recognised as an important driver of innovation, competitiveness and growth, and holds huge potential for entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide. Ministers of the participating countries will debate and learn the opportunities and challenges of the digital transformation.
"E-commerce portends well as an enabler of new opportunities, particularly for developing countries," Unctad Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said in a message on Friday.
"Unctad is uniquely positioned to bring together business, government and civil society to grow policy pathways on the opportunities that arise from e-commerce and how best to leverage them for inclusive prosperity," said Dr Kituyi.
New Unctad estimates launched on Friday show global e-commerce at $25 trillion in 2015. The United States is by far the largest market for business for e-commerce, with combined sales of over $7 trillion in 2015, with Japan and China some distance behind.
The high-level event will set the tone for the rest of the week's discussions, focusing on how developing countries can further engage in e-commerce, and identify concrete actions going forward. E-commerce week will also launch the new eTrade for all online platform and host the first gathering of stakeholders of "eTrade For All".