Building bridges digitally: Experts push for eCommerce to promote cooperation in South Asia

Wednesday, 17 October 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

E-commerce experts and practitioners from the SAARC member countries wrapped up a two days’ workshop titled ‘Building Bridges Digitally – E-Commerce and its potentials in South Asia’ on Sunday in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The meeting aimed assessing the state of e-commerce in the region and discusses strategies to enhance cross-border online trade between the SAARC member states.

“Comprehensive regional e-commerce will strengthen the notion of SAARC,” said Sri Lanka’s Minister for Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen. He invited SAARC CCI to develop and propose a comprehensive policy for the SAARC region to regulate the e-commerce sector to safeguard the interests of the vendors and the consumers. The minister said that SMEs of the SAARC region are in the position to enter into global markets and compete with the business giants of the world.

The two days’ workshop was organised by SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) and the Federation of Sri Lanka Chambers of Commerce and Industry. During the two-day meeting experts from the region shared best practices form their countries and discussed a set of activities to continue their cooperation in the future.

SAARC CCI President Ruwan Edirisinghe highlighted the benefits of e-commerce. Online trade, he said, will create trade and business opportunities and contribute to social cohesion and the overall economic development of the region. He added the 20th Century belongs to Asia and Asia cannot progress without South Asia.

The meeting concluded with the formation of an expert group which will promote cooperation of e-commerce businesses from the SAARC member countries, share best practices, inform the members about latest trends in e-commerce and advise the SAARC CCI in their efforts to lobby with governments to formulate a comprehensive SAARC ecommerce policy framework.

SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SAARC CCI) is an apex business organisation of SAARC mandated to promote regional economic integration in South Asia with having Headquarter in Islamabad, Pakistan.