A three-day 'e-Business Summit and AFACT 2018' concluded in the city on Friday, aiming to promote trade facilitation and paperless trade in the Asia Pacific region.
The Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (AFACT) in association with Bangladesh Computer Samity, ICT Business Promotional Council and the Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services organised the summit at a city hotel for the first time.
Delegates from different countries joined the event and shared their experiences regarding the trade facilitation measures.
As part of the summit, a seminar on 'e-Business Readiness' was held on Thursday, with Shafiqul Islam, additional secretary of the commerce ministry, as the chief guest.
Dr Eva Yi-Yuan Yueh, AFACT StC member, Taiwan, Supachok Jantarapatin, AFACT StC member, Thailand, Hisanao Sugamata, AFACT StC member, Japan, and Kanenori Kedoin, director, JASTPRO, Japan, took part in the seminar.
Dr Eva said issues of data, competition principle changes, knowledge intensive flows, proliferation trading by micro-multinational and SMEs, Fintech and cross-border financial flow, sharing economy, 3D printing and additive manufacturing are the main challenges for e-Business.
The regulations or acts of web-based economic practices with respect to IPR, data or privacy protection, taxation and security, are different from country to country, which creates issues to be negotiated in e-Trade in WTO and other regional trade agreements, she added.
AFACT is closely liaised with United Nation Centre for Trade Facilitation and E-business (UN/CEFACT) with two seats of AFACT Steering Committee represented by UN/CEFACT Vice Chair and Rapporteur for Asia and Pacific. AFACT aims to support policies and activities, especially those promoted by UN/CEFACT.
The e-Business Summit featured AFACT Steering Committee meeting, plenary and working group meetings, as well as a half-day eBusiness Readiness Conference. Some events promoting young entrepreneurs of Bangladesh and their innovative solutions also took place.
At various meetings in the summit, the speakers said AFACT's aim is to facilitate international transactions through simplification and harmonisation of international trade procedures and information flows which is also the essence of paperless trade and trade facilitation.
It also continually develops standards and provides recommendations to be adopted by both public and private sectors for cross-border data exchange in trade and electronic commerce, they added.
In the meetings, Business Domain Committee (BDC) has shared its experiences on how they are cooperating with its Indian counterpart to implement International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs).
Technology and Methodology Committee (TMC) discussed the UN/CEFACT programme areas and technological concerns in blockchain and IoT applications.
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