ICT ACCESS AND USE IN THE LDCS, LLDCS AND SIDS –OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND TRADE

WSIS FORUM 2018

Monday, 19 March 2018

Shamika N. Sirimanne,Director, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD

Digitalization is evolving fast, creating both:

The net income will be affected by the readiness of countries

Sources: UNCTAD, ITU

Despite a recent leap forward in developing countries, there are still wide disparities

90%are in DevelopingCountries

Of the 750 million people that went online for the first time 2012-2015

% of internet shoppers

>1%In Zimbabwe

>12%In Viet Nam

Against more than 80% in Danemark

In particular a growing digital divide in LDCswith a global connectivity gap

Sources: UNCTAD, ITU

Preparing for the digital economy requires a holistic multi-stakeholder approach

etradeforall.org• African Development Bank

• Economic Commission for Africa

• Economic Commission for Latin

America and the Caribbean

• Enhanced Integrated Framework

• E-Residency (Estonia)

• Inter-American Development Bank

• International Association of

Prosecutors

• International Civil Aviation

Organization

• International Islamic Trade Finance

Corporation

• International Telecommunications

Union

• International Trade Centre

• Internet Society

• United Nations Commission on

Trade Law

• United Nations Conference on Trade

and Development

• United Nations Economic

Commission for Europe

• United Nations Commission for Latin

America and the Carribean

• United Nations Economic and Social

Commission for Asia and the Pacific

• United Nations Economic

Commission for Western Africa

• United Nations Social Impact Fund

• UNIDO

• Universal Postal Union

• World Bank Group

• World Customs Organization

• World Intellectual Prperty

Organization

• World Trade Organization

• E-commerce readiness

assessment and strategy

formulation

• ICT infrastructure and services

• Payment solutions

• Trade logistics and trade

facilitation

• Legal and regulatory frameworks

• E-commerce skills development

• Access to financing

7policy

areas

28partners

193 potential

beneficiaries

1platform+30

private sector

members

• African Alliance for E-

commerce

• Alibaba Group

• Bangladesh Association

of Software and

Information Services

(BASIS)

• Bizisol

• Burundishop

• DHL

• eBay

• e-Commerce

Association of

Bangladesh

• Etsy

• The European

Ecommerce and Omni-

Channel Trade

Association (EMOTA)

• Fedex

• First Atlantic Commerce

• Gfk

• Google

• Grasshopper

• Huawei

• Impact Enterprises

• International Council of

Swedish Industry

• International Federation

of Freight Forwarders

Associations (FIATA)

• Kapruka

• King & Spalding

• Latin American

eCommerce Institute

• Nextrade Group

• PayPal, Inc.

• Pitney Bowes

• Ringier Africa

• TCS Holdings

• TradeKey

• UPS

• vTex

• World Information

Technology and

Services Alliance

(WITSA)

• World SME Forum

e-T.Ready: a spin-off from eTrade for all

• With LDCs special focus

• 7 assessments since 2017• (Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao PDR,

Liberia, Samoa, Nepal, Myanmar)

• More than 8 assessments are in pipeline

e-T.Ready in more detail

Objectives: • To assess countries’ current strengths,

weaknesses, gaps and opportunities in seven policy areas

• To assist policy makers in integrating e-commerce within the National Development Agenda

• To foster partnerships between regulators, banks, ICT providers, and the private sector in support of e-commerce development

Main outcome: • Identification of priority actions that

could be supported by partners

Primary Output: Report with key analytical findings and action matrix

Key features:

demand-driven assessment

provides a basic analysis of the e-commerce situation in the country

identifies opportunities and barriers

helps LDCs to prioritize areas in which they could benefit from assistance by partners

Key findings: bottlenecks for the use of e-commerce

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Cambodia

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Bhutan

Priorities for e-commerce development in Samoa

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

ICTInfrastructureand Services

Legal andRegulatoryFramework

E-commerceStrategy

Skills andKnowledge

Access toFinance for

SMEs

Logistics for E-commerce

E-PaymentSolutions

Areas that should receive technical assistance in priority (1 as least important and 6 most important)

Findings common to all assessments to date

Lack of an e-commerce shared vision and strategy

ICT infrastructure is in place in main cities but missing in rural areas

95% of payments for e-commerce are cash on delivery

The lack of postal addressing system for the last mile delivery key logistics barrier

The Legal and Regulatory Framework for e-commerce needs updating

ICT skills often not part of national education curriculum

Financing for e-commerce startups perceived as risky by banks and accelerators are

often missing

Selected tailored recommandations

• Cambodia (Payment solutions): Promote adoption of single e-payment gateway

with National Bank of Cambodia

• Nepal (Legal and regulatory framework): Adopt and enforce cyber security

standards across domestic and international e-commerce service providers

• Samoa (Trade logistics): Access the possibility of pre-clearance of goods a day

before arrival for all shipments

ICT infrastructure is a key bottleneck for LDCs

Improve the current status of ICT infrastructure and services

Improve access and usage of the internet

Reduce the cost of the internet Invest in broadband

The way forward

• e-T.Ready only a first step - implementation is key

• Strong national and international commitment is needed

• National Government must take the lead in next phase

• Leverage the eTrade for all platform to the maximum

• Donor commitment will be needed to scale up

Thank you!