The second edition of UNCTAD's E-Commerce Week offers a unique opportunity for governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society to engage in a dialogue on fundamental issues related to e-commerce and development. The week starts with interactive sessions on cybercrime readiness assessments, consumer protection online, e-commerce and trade policies, E-commerce Policy Reviews organized by and with UNCTAD's partners.
One of the highlights of the week is a two-day Expert Meeting on Data Protection and Privacy: Implications for Trade and Development (19-20 April). It will consider how various challenges and opportunities related to data protection and privacy affect the potential for cross-border trade online. Industry players and consumers, as well as governments and international organizations will present their perspectives and outline recent developments, current practices and relevant frameworks. Invited delegates include representatives from the African Union Commission, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Commonwealth, the Council of Europe, the East African Secretariat, the ECOWAS Commission, European Union, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United States Federal Trade Commission, UNOHCHR, International Chamber of Commerce, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Consumer International, Google, Microsoft, eBay and other e-commerce platforms from developing countries.
On 21 April, a public consultation will be organized on the new Aid for eTrade Initiative, which seeks to provide a holistic, coherent and cross-functional approach to scale up global efforts to expand e-commerce in the developing world and make them more effective and transparent.
The last day of the E-commerce Week is devoted to the challenge of measuring e-commerce and e-commerce readiness. It will feature the 2016 edition of the UNCTAD's B2C E-Commerce Index, new information from NetComm Suisse and other European E-Commerce Associations. The afternoon will be devoted to discussions on how to improve the measurement of cross-border e-commerce in a session co-organized by UNCTAD, WTO and UPU.
The growth of e-commerce presents a major opportunity for stakeholders around the globe, but compared with traditional forms of trade, e-commerce is relatively new and harder to track and analyze. Better metrics and data on e-commerce trends are needed for stakeholders to encourage, plan for, and react to changes and developments in the e-commerce realm.
The UNCTAD's E-Commerce Week is financially supported by the Republic of Korea, Finland and Sweden.
