Given the current rapid changes in technology, countries are developing new policies to maximise benefits for development, particularly for job creation and the development micro-, small- and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including through emerging concepts such as digital industrial policies.
They have great potential for MSMEs, but also create risks. This session will identify the barriers that MSMEs currently face when attempting to engage in e-commerce, such as lack of affordable Internet access and logistical constraints. It will also discuss the potential impacts, both positive and negative, of allying with global transnational corporate service providers such as Ebay and Amazon to promote MSMEs domestically.
At the same time a number of new e-commerce proposals have been made in various trade-negotiation forums. If adopted, some of those proposals could affect national digital policies. This session will examine the potential implications of such e-commerce proposals on digital industrial policy, including on best practices from various countries, and what impact the proposals could therefore have on MSMEs, women, and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and for all countries on job creation and particularly achieving the Decent Work Agenda, and on the potential achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Moderator:
Ms Deborah James, Our World is Not for Sale (OWINFS), global network
Speakers:
Ms Anita Gurumurthy, Executive Director, IT for Change, India
Ms Zainab Mohammed, Women’s Wing, National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), Nigeria
Mr Anil Bharafwaj, Secretary General of Federation of Indian Small and Medium Enterprise, India
Mr Michael Wamai, Counselor and Head of the WTO Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Uganda
Mr Marcelo Fernandez, General Business Confederation of the Argentine Republic (CGERA) representing 40 sectoral chambers of MSMEs in Argentina
Ms Sanya Reid Smith, Legal Advisor and Senior Researcher, Third World Network, Geneva
